LAKEWOOD, Wash. — The manager of a camera shop was dragged about 60 feet when he chased alleged shoplifters fleeing the store Thursday.
Tod Wolf, the operations manager, showed KIRO 7 how he injured his nose, forehead and the back of his head, requiring several stitches.
Robi’s Camera Center, Labs and Custom Framing, in Lakewood, posted six surveillance photos on the store’s Facebook page in hopes of getting the thieves caught. The photos show two women and a man.
KIRO 7 then obtained surveillance video from the store, showing the suspects running out the front door with store staff on their heels.
The shop staff described the thieves’ car as a peach-colored Toyota Camry with a broken rear passenger window. That window, as well as the entire back window of the car, is covered with plastic.
Robi’s is now offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to their arrest.
Wolf said the group stole two cameras and two lenses: a Canon 70D SLR, a Canon 6D SLR, a 24-105 zoom lens, and an 85 mm 1.8 lens. The total is worth about $4,500.
“You float between anger and surprise, and chagrin,” Wolf said. “There are families that depend on this. This is a small business. This is one of the specialty stores that are left.”
Thursday at around 11:30 a.m., Wolf said he chased the suspects out the door, where their car turned into him. To avoid being hit, he moved to the side. His arm ended up going through the already-broken rear passenger window, and he held onto the headrest of the front seat.
“The last thing I remember was the two girls in the back seat hitting me and pushing me back out, prying my hands off the headrest up front that I was trying to hold onto,” he said.
He was dragged, and then fell, while the car was going about 25 to 30 mph, according to witnesses.
Because they are the only camera specialty store between Seattle and Oregon, Wolf said they have been a frequent target for thieves.
He said there have been three instances of grab-and-dash thefts in the past year. In the last several years, others have reached behind the counter or grabbed cameras in front of other customers.
Wolf said that only a few weeks ago, someone yanked a camera right out of the salesman’s hands and ran out.
A few people have even tried sawing holes through the walls at night.
He said they could consider requiring ID to show cameras, or only allowing entry and exit by buzzing people through the door, but he does not want to hinder the experience for the rest of the customers.
“You’d think we could pick people who look suspicious, but it’s young, artistic people who want to make these great videos and new music videos, and sports and skateboarding videos. There’s no profiling the right people.”
KIRO
