The owner of an Everett cigar shop is reeling after two crooks crashed their way in to rob his business. He is not alone. A day earlier, a different set of crooks crashed their way into an Edmonds pot shop.
They got away with thousands of dollars in merchandise. But three suspects, including a juvenile, also got a ride to jail.
The three people who were arrested are accused of robbing the Edmonds marijuana store. And it took a team of local police agencies to nab them.
But the very next morning - Sunday morning, a different set of crooks broke in, devastating the man who has owned this business for 26 years.
“That car hit so hard, including steel gate, including that frame, glass, two feet moved everything,” said Nasir Malik.
There was a horrific scene left behind after a stolen KIA was deliberately crashed into his Everett Cigar & Tobacco shop along Evergreen Way.
“I mean from here, that, you see that?” he said, pointing out what was taken. “Two showcases from there. And those kind of things they took it. Lighters.”
He said his next-door neighbor, a donut maker, was in early and called 911.
“And the police guy told me while they were in the action, the patrol police showed up here,” said Malik.
The crooks, caught unawares, fled on foot.
“And then they left the car,” he said. “They left the car here.”
They left behind the KIA that had been stolen, without the owner’s knowledge, some 41 miles away in Federal Way.
Turns out a different set of crooks crashed into the Cannazone Pot Shop in Edmonds early Saturday morning.
Surveillance video shows six people run into the shop making off with some $15,000 worth of merchandise.
They fled in separate stolen cars. Edmonds Police with the help of Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputies, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and Shoreline police managed to nab three suspects, including a 16-year-old.
That collaboration, said Everett Police Officer Ora Hamel, is key.
“And we have our violent crime unit and our act team which is the anti-crime team,” said Officer Hamel. “And they’re very good at following leads and helping to solve these different cases.”
However, there was no such luck in the burglary in Everett.
The three suspects arrested in the Edmonds case should make their first court appearances on Monday. At least three other suspects from that case remain on the loose.