Marines jump in to help woman confronted by robbers

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — "We thought there was road rage involved or a fight broke loose," said Sgt. Riccardo Schebesta.

Schebesta and two other recruiters rushed outside and saw a woman yelling for help.

"She said, ‘Help me I’m being robbed.’ I stopped paying attention to her. She's not the problem," said Staff Sgt. Ben Shoemaker.

He immediately saw one of the suspects, and ran to try and catch them.

"No -- that kid was never going to outrun me," Shoemaker added. "Marines run towards the sound of chaos."

Moments earlier, Lynnwood Police said that the woman was confronted by two robbery suspects.

Officers said the woman in her 60's was getting into her pick-up truck in the parking lot of the Alderwood Mall off of 184th Street SW.

Two teenagers then attempted robbing her, and one of them said he had a gun.

Court documents show that the woman told them that she was a retired police officer.

She reached for her purse and then dropped it on the ground. She pushed one of the suspects and started to chase them in her pick-up truck.

She couldn't get to them, but Shoemaker detained 18-year-old Diego Tavares with a technique called the arm bar.

"An arm bar keeps in on his feet, but keeps him compliant," said Shoemaker.

"As Staff Sgt. Shoemaker detained the first guy, I got on the phone with 911. At the time there were no police officers on the scene," said Staff Sgt. Bryson Twigg.

The other suspect escaped, but Tavares was arrested when police arrived shortly afterwards.

"It’s what we do. From the beginning what we’re taught in boot camp -- it's a part of us," said Schebesta.

Officers found a baseball bat in his pants but did not recover a gun on him or at the scene.

On Wednesday, a Snohomish County judge set his bail at $25,000.

"It's really what I’m trained to do, be it recruiting, be it that -- my job is to protect the United States public," said Shoemaker.

Lynnwood police are still searching for the second suspect.

KIRO