The target of a brazen daylight robbery outside a Beverly Hills eatery that netted a $500,000 watch — and left an innocent bystander shot — recounted the terrifying ambush to The Post on Friday.
Jewelry dealer Shay Belhassen said he was sitting with a client at celebrity hot spot Il Pastaio on Thursday afternoon when three armed thieves came up behind him and made their move to swipe his $500,000 Richard Mille timepiece.
“One of them was choking me from the back with a gun to my head, while the other one was grabbing my arm, and the third one was yanking the watch off my hand,” Belhassen told The Post in a phone interview — referring to his RM 11-03 rose gold Flyback Chronograph, a favorite of celebs such as Kanye West and Kevin Hart and tennis ace Rafael Nadal.
“I took a chance and grabbed the gun and wrestled them to the ground. They were trying to pull the trigger,” Belhassen said.
Four shots rang out during the struggle, the jewelry dealer said, and one of the slugs struck a woman in the leg who was sitting at the restaurant with her boyfriend.
“I believe one of [the robbers] got shot while they were struggling with me on the ground,” he said. “The eyewitnesses were saying he ran while holding his stomach. I know while we were fighting on the ground, a couple of bullets shot. I believe one of them hit him.”
He added that he was happy to escape the robbery with his life.
“They were coming to shoot. They didn’t come to play around. There was zero fear in their eyes,” he said.