National’s police spokesperson has asked bystanders to leave chasing criminals to the police after members of the public attempted to intervene in the daylight robbery of an Ellerslie jewellery store.

In a Twitter post, MP Mark Mitchell said he shared the frustrations experienced by business owners and the community when it came to retail crime.

However, the former policeman said bystanders should leave tackling armed robbers to the professionals.

“I acknowledge the courage of members of the public who tried to stop fleeing offenders from an Ellerslie jeweller yesterday,” he said.

 “I share the frustration but please leave this to the Police. Tackling offenders armed with hammers and machetes puts us even closer to a tragedy.”

Five people have been arrested and appeared in court today after the robbery of Ellerslie Jewellers & Engravers in Auckland yesterday afternoon.

A 35-year-old woman and two 18-year-old men appeared in Auckland District Court today facing aggravated robbery charges, while a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old appeared in the Youth Court facing the same charges.

This morning, two women who chased the robbers described the incident and heard screams before running out to chase hammer-wielding group in an attempt to stop them.

A group of men who robbed a jewellery store on the Main Highway at Ellerslie were chased by workers from the store and local bystanders before making a getaway in a blue car. Photo / Supplied

• ‘They needed to be stopped’: Five arrested after two women give chase in jewellery store robbery
• Watch: Bystanders confront hammer-wielding masked robbers after jewellery heist

Lesley and her daughter were in the store next door on Main Highway when they heard loud smashing sounds.

“We were just leaving at that time around 4.30pm, and we heard screams and crying coming from the neighbouring store.

“We ran out to have a look and then someone said it was a ram-raid.

“We made eye contact with the robbers swaying their hammers.”

The robbers crossed the road approaching a getaway car, and the two women chased after without thinking anything, Lesley and her daughter told the Herald.

“What is going through your mind at that time is to do something, anything to stop them.”

One of the thieves tried to come after her daughter, they said.

“We were not scared for our safety in that moment, we reckon they were never going to hit us. We just wanted to stop them from leaving.”

But the driver ran over Lesley’s foot, and she fell to the ground.

“We were not thinking, we just saw that it was wrong and they needed to be stopped.”

Yesterday a video of the heist, provided to the Herald, showed several people trying to impede the robbers as they made an escape from the jewellery store in Ellerslie.

The two women chased the robbers across the road before being threatened with a hammer, the footage showed. As the car drove away one of the women was knocked to the ground. She later told the Herald she was uninjured.

Earlier in the video, one man attempted to break the windscreen of the getaway car with a chair, another seemingly tried to slash a rear tyre and a third man opened the driver’s door looking for the keys.

Auckland City CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong said police, including Eagle helicopter, quickly responded to the incident and apprehended the group shortly after the incident in Mt Wellington.

“Four men and a woman have been charged with aggravated robbery.”

Police officers are investigating the damage done to an Ellerslie Jewellery store today after four hammer-wielding robbers targeted it yesterday afternoon. Photo / Akula Sharma