OLYMPIA, Wash. — Two Olympia businesses are making repairs after they were targets of smash and grabs. A gun store had an attempted smash-and-grab Thursday morning and a pot shop had burglars successfully crash into their store and steal products Wednesday morning.
“They said there was glass broken, an alarm went off,” said Donald Teague, the owner of Private Sector Arms in Olympia.
Luckily, although the vehicle the thieves were using broke the glass, they were not able to make entry due to pylons, bars and other security measures the store had in place. Teague was happy to find out his safety measures worked when he drove up to the scene.
“I yelled, ‘Did they get in?’” said Teague. “And the cop goes, ‘I don't think they got in.’ And I was like, ‘Woo hoo! It worked!’”
Teague said the suspects left in a getaway car when they could not get into the store with the car they were first using.
While Teague said the damage at his shop is not financially damaging, just down the street at the Green Lady Westside pot shop, a group of burglars successfully crashed their way inside Wednesday morning.
“We see a car run into the side, four people jump out, they come in, they have bags, they grab as much stuff as they possibly can, and a getaway car drives up and they take off,” said Layla Jordan, the operations manager of the Green Lady Westside, about the surveillance video.
Jordan said the whole crime took fewer than two minutes. They do not keep cash in the store, so the burglars only got away with products, which she believes they sell on the black market.
She said this same store was broken into almost exactly a year ago in a different smash-and-grab.
“It is really frustrating, but the silver lining is we're pros at handling this type of crisis now,” said Jordan. “So, when it happens, we know exactly what to do, we know who to call.”
No one was ever arrested for the smash-and-grab last year, and this time around she thinks the crimes in the area could be connected.
“I have heard some speculation that it might be some sort of organized crime,” said Jordan.
They are already implementing more security measures since Wednesday morning, like adding 2,000-pound blocks outside of the part of the store that was crashed into.
As both stores make repairs, Teague hopes the people responsible for the crimes get caught.
“They left tons of evidence, their seconds are numbered,” said Teague.
Olympia Police say that the cars used in both the Green Lady crime and the Private Sector Arms crime were stolen.
Tumwater Police also confirmed with KING 5 that Rooftop Arms, another gun shop, was burglarized just an hour after Private Sector Arms had their attempted smash-and-grab on Thursday morning. The two stores are only 10 minutes away from each other.
Tumwater Police said when they arrived at Rooftop Arms after an alarm went off, they saw a 2015 Kia Sedona had been driven into the front doors of the closed business. They said officers found items that looked to have been stolen from a store that was burglarized in Olympia. Officers also learned that the car used in the smash-and-grab had been stolen in Federal Way just hours prior.
The responding officers suspect that the crime in Tumwater is related to the two smash-and-grabs in Olympia.
Additionally, Tumwater Police said they were notified that prior to the burglary, a Centralia officer had seen the stolen vehicle acting suspiciously in the parking lot of a closed jewelry store. Tumwater Police said that when the officer discovered the vehicle was reported stolen, they tried to stop the car, but they fled. Tumwater Police said due to current state law, the officer was not able to pursue the vehicle.
Tumwater Police said that inside the vehicle, investigators found evidence believed to be related to the burglaries in Olympia.
Tumwater Police said they are working with Olympia Police to investigate these crimes.
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