Suspected armed robber dies in crash after fleeing police

KENT, Wash. — A 25-year-old Des Moines man suspected of robbing two stores in Kent died after fleeing police and crashing his vehicle into a tree just after midnight on Saturday.

Kent police were called to East Hill Market located in the 23800 block of 108th Avenue Southeast for an armed robbery.

Police were told that a man had been loitering in the store and then approached the counter and pulled out a gun, demanding money, officials said. The man fled the store when customers walked in.

Officers who responded said the description of the man was similar to that of a suspect in a robbery that occurred at another store about an hour earlier. In that incident, police said the perpetrator demanded cigarettes and threatened a store employee with a handgun.

Police said an officer had seen a suspicious vehicle quickly leave a parking lot near East Hill Market. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver did not pull over.

At some point, the car veered off the road and hit a tree, ejecting the driver, police said. Officers performed lifesaving measures on the man until medics arrived, but he died at the scene.

Authorities said officers found a handgun near the scene of the crash.

After investigators reviewed surveillance video from the first robbery, they said the suspect appeared to be the same person who fled from the East Hill Market store area, officials said.

The Kent Police Department requested the King County Sherriff’s Office to conduct an independent investigation into the crash. Officials said it does not appear that any patrol vehicles came in contact with the suspect’s vehicle during the chase.

Cox Media Group