An ancient mammoth tusk worth thousands of dollars was reportedly stolen from a downtown Seattle art gallery Tuesday evening (April 5), KOMO reports.
Police were called to the gallery in the 200 block of Pine Street after a shoplifter made off with the extremely rare artifact. Authorities say the suspect implied to workers he had a knife on him before he took an extra-long front tooth of a large extinct elephant that roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago. Nobody was hurt in the incident.
KOMO reporter Preston Phillips also shared surveillance footage of the crime on Twitter, which shows the shoplifter walking around the gallery before grabbing the tusk and running out. An employee is seen chasing after him.
The thief fled the scene in a stolen plum-colored PT cruiser, according to police. No arrests have been made as of Wednesday morning (April 8).
The art gallery owners, still shaken by the experience, decline to share details about the stolen tusk or its value with local reporters. A police spokesperson confirmed the item was worth several thousand dollars.
The gallery itself has been around for nearly a year and "carries hand-made fine art sculptures," according to its Facebook page, per KOMO. The owners say they're going to hire a security guard to prevent thefts like this in the future, the news station added.
This incident is the latest in a string of high-profile crimes at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street, including some recent shootings. The City of Seattle has pledged to bolster more law enforcement presence in the wake of these incidents.