Police: Recent robbery eerily similar to DFW airport kidnapping

The FBI and DFW Airport police are taking a close look at a violent aggravated robbery of a diamond dealer in Arlington last week. They want to know if it's connected to a kidnapping and homicide near the airport Thursday afternoon.

Surveillance video shows last week's dramatic robbery play out, where thieves robbed the diamond dealer from New York as he was gassing up his rental car on the way back from the DFW airport.

Police say the circumstances are eerily similar to the details of Thursday’s crime that left a 42-year-old man dead.

The man robbed in Arlington last Thursday spoke to FOX 4 by phone but didn’t want to be identified. He said he was inside a gas station on East Pioneer Parkway he noticed a gold-colored Chevy Impala pull up next to his car at the pump.

"Somehow my eyes were always on that car,” he explained.

As he begins to pump gas, the car he saw pulls up quickly. The doors fly open and two men wearing masks jump out with guns.

"I immediately realized he's coming after me so I just ran from there towards the gas station store so I could go inside and I'll be safe,” he said.

As one masked man chased the dealer, another stole some paperwork from his car and slashed his tires.

From another angle, a clerk inside the store is seen holding the door closed as the men outside struggled.

The clerk said he kids were inside and. He said he was trying to protect them and other customers.

“He smashed me from the back and he started assaulting me,” the jewelry dealer said. “He was trying to open my jacket and he tore off my shirt."

The masked man gave up and ran back to the car and sped off.

Could the case be related to the attempted carjacking, kidnapping and murder of a 42-year-old businessman near the DFW airport? Investigators think so.

The FBI and DFW airport police believe the murder victim on Thursday was also followed. He was also gassing his rental car on the way to the airport. And police say as that man saw people breaking into his car, he tried to stop them. Witnesses say they drove away with him hanging out of the window. He was found later along Northgate Drive and died at a hospital.

"There is some definite similarities in the two offenses,” said Lt. Chris Cook with Arlington police. “So at this point, we can't say as a definite that they're going to be related. But there's definitely good intelligence to point that this could possibly be some linkage in those two cases."

The dealer said he had more than $50,000 worth of diamonds on him that the crooks didn't get.

"Maybe next time I go to Dallas, I’ll have to have a security guard with me,” he said.

DFW Airport police have not released any new details in the Thursday incident. The Dallas County Medical Examiner has not yet identified the homicide victim.