D.C. police arrested a teenager in connection with a smash-and-grab robbery that occurred Wednesday in downtown Washington and said it might be related to a similar “flash” robbery of a store in Georgetown.

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       Authorities said they are looking for others in the two robberies and are trying to determine whether there are links to similar recent incidents in the District, Maryland and Virginia.

       The flash robberies have involved groups of people quickly running in and swarming a store while it is open for business. In some cases, they take clothing off the racks or items off shelves; other times they smash display cases to access merchandise.

       Police did not identify the teenager who was arrested because he is 17 and was charged as a juvenile with robbery.

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       Cmdr. Duncan Bedlion, who heads D.C. police’s Second District, said the arrest occurred shortly after an 11 a.m. robbery Wednesday at a store in the 1000 block of H Street NW, near Metro Center.

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       Bedlion said four young men entered the store, with one holding his waistband, as if he had a weapon, in an attempt “to intimidate people.” Police said that no weapon was shown but that the four people “gathered everything they could grab” and escaped in a vehicle.

       Police saw the vehicle a short time later and tried to stop it, Bedlion said, but the driver sped off. Bedlion said that officers did not pursue the vehicle but that the driver crashed in the 700 block of K Street NW.

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       The teenager was arrested, police said, while the other three people escaped. Bedlion said police recovered most of the stolen clothing.

       Thieves smash-and-grab expensive eyeglasses at six D.C.-area stores in recent weeks

       Police said they think the same people robbed a store Monday in Georgetown, taking $19,500 worth of jackets and jeans. In that case, a police report says, eight people “began grabbing several items from the racks” and escaped in two vehicles.

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       Earlier this year, authorities were investigating at least six other “flash” or smash-and-grab thefts of eyeglass stores over a three-week period in the D.C. area. At one eyeglass store in Alexandria, a man used a hammer to smash glass display cases and a group escaped with Gucci products and a tray of sunglasses worth more than $17,000.

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       More robberies of shops have occurred in the District this month, including at a shop in the Navy Yard area that was hit on consecutive days, with police saying nearly $20,000 in clothing was taken.

       On March 7, police said two people stole $102,000 worth of sunglasses from an optical store in Georgetown. Police said one person “motioned he had a weapon” but did not display it, according to a report.