HERMITAGE — Although Anthony D. Jacobs was asking Melinda Serignese if a sapphire pendant was a children’s pendant, Jacobs was not looking at her or the pendant, Serignese said.

“He was looking at his friend and Carrie the entire time he was asking me this question,” Serignese said, referring to Terrance L. Jackson and Carrie Nicastro, the manager of King’s Jewelry in the Shenango Valley Mall.

Serignese, testifying Tuesday at the preliminary hearing for Jacobs and Jackson, said she walked away from Jacobs, but Jacobs, 23, called, “Hey.”

When Serignese looked back, “He lifted his shirt up and showed me his gun,” she said.

Jackson, 40, then jumped the counter.

“He said, ‘Get out of my way, bitch, or I’ll shoot you,’” Nicastro testified.

Jackson brushed by Nicastro, pulled a crow bar out of his sleeve, and jimmied open a locked display case, the employees said. He filled a bag with $76,000 worth of jewelry, jumped back over the counter and he and Jacobs left the store, they said.

Both men - who are from Columbus - wore black pants, black shirts and black ball caps, the King’s employees said. Jackson wore a long-sleeved shirt - Jacobs’ had short sleeves - and never showed his left hand while in the store until he pulled out the bar, Nicastro said.

Marsha Thompson testified she was driving westbound in the mall parking lot that day - July 9 - when she saw two people dressed all in black run toward Sears Auto Center.

The people threw objects over a brick wall at the auto center, and kept running, across State, she said.

“They didn’t even stop for traffic,” Thompson said.

Hearing sirens, she walked over to the wall and, with a Sears employee, peered inside the walled off area through a metal fence gate. She saw a gun and bullets, she said.

Jim Pitts was driving a small box truck eastbound on State.

“I saw two gentlemen dressed in black running from the mall parking lot,” he testified. “I had to stop my truck to let them run in front of me. I hit the brakes.”

Pitts pulled his truck into the Hermitage Square Plaza parking lot and kept an eye on the men as they continued running south. He saw them go into the Dumpster area by Bob Evans Restaurant, and Jackson go toward Applebee’s Neighborhood Grille and Bar.

He alerted a policemen when police started “swarming” the area, and Jacobs was arrested by the Dumpster. Jackson was arrested when police used irritants to force him out of the Applebee’s bathroom, Hermitage police said.

The men stole a station wagon from Gargano Towers in Farrell, parked it by Sears Auto Center and left it running, police said. Although they stashed some of the jewelry in the station wagon, they did not use it to get away, police said.

Wayne Martin, who drives the station wagon, which is owned by his sister, said a pry bar was stolen from it. The car also was returned with a broken window, steering column and ignition switch, he said.

Assistant Public Defender Ted Isoldi, representing Jackson, argued that a charge of burglary be dismissed because the store was open for business and a charge of receiving stolen property because there was testimony that Jackson possessed the car.

District Judge Ronald E. Antos, Farrell, disagreed and held for court against both men charges of robbery, theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit robbery and theft.

Antos also held for court charges against Jackson of burglary, terroristic threats and possessing an instrument of crime.

Jacobs also is charged with carrying a firearm without a license and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Prosecutors acquiesced to the dismissal of charges of prohibited possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit prohibited possession against Jacobs.

Although both men admitted to extensive criminal histories at their arraignments, prosecutors did not have officials records to show that Jackson has been convicted of a crime that renders him unable to possess a handgun in Pennsylvania. Prosecutors can refile the charges once that information is obtained.

The men were returned to Mercer County Jail for failing to post $500,000 bond each.

Prosecutors and police commended the members of the public who helped police catch Jacobs and Jackson and build the case against them.

The level of cooperation was “amazing,” said Assistant District Attorney Miles K. Karson.

Hermitage police Capt. Eric Jewell, the first policeman on the scene, said people pointed him in the direction of the men as soon as he got to the mall.

Karson said the witnesses who testified Tuesday are “just the tip of the iceberg” of people who gave statements to police.