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Police investigating after Lynnwood smoke shop owner robbed at gunpoint

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — A Lynnwood business owner is on edge after he was robbed at gunpoint.

“I just moved here, I just bought into the business like three months ago,” said Ayez Ahmed, the owner of 76th Smoke Shop. “I had thought it was a good neighborhood, but it was pretty scary.”

According to the Lynnwood Police Department, two suspects, who appeared to be teenagers, came into the store at about 6 p.m. Sunday and threatened to kill Ahmed if he didn’t open the store’s safe.

Ahmed said the store did not have a safe, but the teens did not believe him.

Ahmed said the pair were aggressive and used a gun to hit him until he opened a register.

“When he hit me, I just got a little nauseous,” said Ahmed. “I was like ‘Man, come on, you can’t do that. We don’t have (a) safe over here, how many times have we told you?’”

After taking cash out of a register, they then followed Ahmed to the store’s back office, with one of the teens pointing the gun at his back.

He said the teens also pointed the gun at one of his employees’ heads once they reached the back of the store.

Ahmed said the thieves got away with about $1,000 in cash from the register and some merchandise they took off the store’s shelves.

According to police, both suspects wore dark clothing and masks. One was wearing a red hoodie, a black mask and Nike sneakers. The other wore a dark hoodie with a grey jacket.

They were last seen running westbound on 196th Street Southwest.