WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Armed-robbery investigation

(Added: WSB photo, police @ robbery scene)

8:23 PM: Police have converged on the Origins cannabis store in The Junction to investigate a report the store was held up at gunpoint. Here’s what we’re hearing from officers and dispatch: The store was robbed by three men in their 20s, who got away with some merchandise and two registers. The early description information is that the robbers were Black, all thin-to-medium build, wearing face masks, one taller than 6′ and carrying what was described to police as an “Uzi,” another shorter than 6′, no clothing description so far. They were last seen headed westbound on Edmunds from 40th (the store is at that corner). A K9 team (from the King County Sheriff’s Office, as no SPD K9 team was available) is on the way to join the search.

8:30 PM: More detailed descriptions of two of the robbers – the one with the “Uzi” wore a blue coat, black beanie, and dark pants, and is about 6’2″ and slender; another about 5’6″ and 180 pounds, carrying a tan “Glock-type” gun, wearing a red hoodie and dark pants. Only one added detail for the third robber – wearing a “paintball mask.”

10:10 PM: No further updates since then; we’ll be requesting the report in the morning.

10 AM THURSDAY: Only one additional detail in the preliminary summary – that one description matched that of a suspect in a carjacking 20 minutes earlier near 35th/Morgan. W4’re requesting the report on that and will publish separately when we have details.

27 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Armed-robbery investigation"

  • Rob January 12, 2022 (9:00 pm)

    I’m so sorry to hear that. I love Origins. Praying that everyone is okay

  • ER January 12, 2022 (9:05 pm)

  • WS resident January 12, 2022 (9:34 pm)

    Cash registers and on foot? Don’t imagine they’ll get too far. 

  • Kramer January 12, 2022 (9:39 pm)

    Crazy! I was there around 8pm, must have been right before this happened. 

  • Zipda January 12, 2022 (9:45 pm)

    Heading west on foot? Driving ?

    • WSB January 12, 2022 (10:13 pm)

      Early on there was no indication of a vehicle.

  • m January 12, 2022 (10:04 pm)

     Super bummed to read this news.  

  • Derek January 12, 2022 (10:08 pm)

    I hope everyone is okay. I love Origins too.

  • GoodSpaceGal January 12, 2022 (10:28 pm)

    So much for legal recreational marijuana ending the violent crime associated with it. I’ve lost count over the years of the number of pot shop robberies just here in West Seattle and White Center. And they don’t just take cash, they take all the product they can gather in many cases.

    • zark00 January 13, 2022 (1:05 pm)

      @ GOODSPACEGAL – yeah, counting to 3 is tough isn’t it?  There was virtually no violent crime associated with marijuana historically, and this doesn’t change that.  Drinking, alcohol, you want to see some stats on how much THAT legal drug contributes to violent crime?  Yeah, you don’t, you’d have to just give up and hide for the rest of time.Almost every single domestic abuse call involves alcohol. You personally don’t like weed, don’t understand who uses it and why, and have a HUGE prejudice against people who do. That’s really your issue here. Nothing to do with facts or reality.

      • Bob January 13, 2022 (2:28 pm)

        Dude.  Chill.  Smoke a blunt.  

    • Neighbor January 14, 2022 (1:49 pm)

      My understanding of these pot-shop holdups is that the shops are targeted because they have a lot of cash on hand, not for the drugs specifically.  Since pot is still federally banned credit card processors and banks don’t want to do business with the shops.  Similarly I can understand customers wanting to use cash to avoid being targeted by federal authorities.  This makes the shops a huge target because they have large quantities of cash on hand.  It’s not the drugs themselves, it’s the situation the (federal) laws create.

  • Danelle January 12, 2022 (11:32 pm)

    So sorry this happened to employees at Origins.  Sending light.

  • Marcus January 13, 2022 (4:35 am)

    So scary for them.  This is just so unacceptable and so wrong for a city to continually allow this to happen.  We need more police patrols and presence.  And we need to capture and convict these thugs.  This norm is not sustainable.

    • Melissa January 13, 2022 (9:39 am)

      As Flimflam says below, the issue isn’t the city, it’s the federal laws around cannabis. If cannabis shops could use federally insured banks and take credit cards and generally behave like other businesses, they wouldn’t need to keep so much money on hand and would be less alluring targets.

      • Red Owen January 13, 2022 (10:58 am)

        No, it is most certainly the city’s fault. Their stance on crime has allowed lawlessness to become the norm. Stop making excuses for them. Grow up, you aren’t helping anyone except for the criminals. 

        • Lagartija Nick January 13, 2022 (11:40 am)

          And again, armed robbery is a felony and as such is prosecuted by the county, not the city. Furthermore, federal banking laws prohibiting pot shops from accepting credit/debit cards is precisely why they are tempting targets. Maybe it’s you who needs to “grow up” and learn what the laws are before ranting about things you clearly don’t understand.

        • Jeepney January 13, 2022 (12:07 pm)

          The city is following the will of the people.   The “defund the police” movement was shortsighted and not very well thought out.  

        • zark00 January 13, 2022 (1:01 pm)

          @ Red Owen – so very wrong on this. There is no stance on lawlessness except in your head. Robbery is DOWN from 2018 bud – get a grip, learn to read, stop spreading lies and hot garbage as fact. People like you are the problem – freaking everyone out, driving up gun sales, just because you can’t handle the reality of living in a city. If the fed legalized, the registers wouldn’t be stuffed with cash. As I’m sure you DON’T know – all product is tracked seed to sale – one baggie or jar would lead directly to these guys. It’s the cash, it’s all about the cash, and that is 100% the fed fault.

  • flimflam January 13, 2022 (4:52 am)

    the ridiculous federal laws restricting these LEGAL businesses to cash-only transactions needlessly put the employees of these shops in danger and need to be changed, yesterday.

    • sbre January 13, 2022 (9:43 am)

      Hear-Hear!!!

  • Mi January 13, 2022 (7:43 am)

    This place gets robbed on the regular. Someone also tried to break in through some tiny windows outside a month or so back.  Not sure why they haven’t hired armed security at the door. 

  • Marcus January 13, 2022 (11:57 am)

    the federal law will eventually change as the discussion between perceived morals and money continues–money always wins.  But to rationalize that people are resorting to armed robbery because of federal banking laws????  Get real and get some common sense.

    • flimflam January 13, 2022 (6:33 pm)

      The federal laws are what keep these legal businesses from accepting credit/debit cards, the criminals know this so therefore are attracted to the cash inside. This is very much a product of federal laws!

    • Neighbor January 14, 2022 (2:00 pm)

      Businesses that have a lot of cash on hand are targeted for robbery.  How is that a hard concept to comprehend?  Do you need a crayon drawing?

  • r January 13, 2022 (1:19 pm)

    Ocean Greens in N Seattle was also robbed at gunpoint a week or so back

  • Danelle January 14, 2022 (11:05 pm)

    There is a weed shop in White Center that takes cards. I wish I could remember the name, but was just there a month ago and told me they accepted debit cards.

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