(Photo added: Some of the police response in the area when our photographer first arrived)
8:23 PM: Thanks for the tips – we’re headed to the reports of police and a helicopter in The Junction. More when we get there.
8:34 PM: It was the King Co. Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One, and they’ve tweeted that the call was a “possible robbery” at the 76 gas station north of The Junction.
8:39 PM: Police tell our photographer that they are questioning two people right now in connection with what started as a “disturbance.” It was reported as a “verbal disturbance” with the clerk at the gas station. NOT a robbery. No injuries. Guardian One was not called out specifically for this, police tell us – they just happened to be in the area and offered to help search if/as needed.
ADDED 10:28 AM FRIDAY: We requested the police-report narrative and have transcribed it below. (The names were redacted by SPD before releasing the narrative, which is standard procedure for both victim and suspect names in reports.)
Officers responded to the AD Food Mart/76 Station at 4001 California SW, for a report of a strong-arm robbery that had just occurred. The caller reported several suspects in a physical fight with the clerk. Radio also advised there was an open one and they heard what sounded like a slap and the RP cursing and “sounding scared.” The call was updated by Radio that 5 suspects were seen running in the area of California and Dakota. Arriving officers located a group of subjects running in the area of California and Dakota and were able to detain three of them. They reported that the other two suspects fled NB and WB from California/Dakota.
While officers continued to check the area and set up containment for a K9 track, the three detained suspects advised that they had not stolen anything and that the clerk had come at them with a bat. Additional responding officers were directed to the original scene to interview the clerk.
They later advised that there was a substantial language barrier, but they were able to determine that the clerk had recognized the suspects from a previous incident, where items were stolen and a rock was thrown at a store window, causing damage. He reported that the boys had come in the store and became hostile with him when he told them to leave. He said they began yelling and cursing at him. He further reported that one of the suspects had spit on him and that one of them also hit a rock against the window after leaving and then pulled his hand back as if he was going to throw the rock at him through the window.
The victim (name redacted) was transported to the location of the detained suspects for a show-up. He positively identified one of the males (name redacted) as the suspect who spat on him. He also positively identified one of the males (name redacted) as the suspect who had hit the rock against the window and threatened to throw it at the victim. The third male suspect (name redacted) was positively identified by the victim as having been in the store and cursing at the victim, but that was all.
When advised that the victim had identified him as the suspect who had spit on him, (redacted) denied the incident and said the victim might have mistaken him for one of the at-large suspects, who he said looks just like him. (redacted) stated he knew the suspect by the name (redacted) and that he knew him from the Hiawatha Community Center. (redacted) stated they look similar and have the same hairstyle. (redacted) identified the other at-large suspect as a boy he knows as (redacted), also from the Hiawatha Community Center.
After it was determined that a robbery had not occurred, a K-9 track was not conducted. The outstanding suspects were not located.
The report concludes by saying that all three of the juveniles who were detained were turned over to the father of two of them (the mother of the third asked him to bring her son home), and that a sergeant “screened the incident and arrests at the scene.”
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