What started looking like a shoplifting ended with a handgun being flashed Saturday evening outside Northgate Mall, police report.
It was the second such episode this month.
Of this most recent robbery, police write:
On April 7th, at approximately 8:40 p.m., an unknown male and female entered a store in the 400 Block of Northeast Northgate Way and stole two cell phones. Employees chased the suspects as they left the store, and just before the male suspect got to a getaway vehicle he lifted his shirt to reveal that he had a semi-automatic handgun tucked in his waist. The suspects left the scene in a newer Nissan.
Officers searched the area but didn’t spot the suspects. Detectives will follow up.
Note that “public safety” shares the bill with “redevelopment” for the Maple Leaf Community Council’s general meeting at the end of the month.
That meeting is Wednesday, April 25, from 7-9 p.m. at Olympic View Elementary, 504 N.E. 95th Street.
Update April 11: An expanded police report is now available. The victim store is described as “next to the far NW entrance, and according to the manager has been hit three times now, in a short period of time.”
The vehicle is described as “a newer (2002-2005) silver Nissan Altima 4-door with dark tinted windows, and no other distinguishing features,” and fake plates.
Here’s the full suspect description:
“1)BM, M20S, BLK HOODY, WHI BASKETBALL SHORTS W/RED STRIPE ON SIDE, WHI TENNIS SHOES ***SHOWED HANDGUN** 2)BF, M20S, BLK JKT, LONG BLK/WHI ZEBRA STRIPE SKIRT THAT WENT TO FLOOR, LARGE PINK BAG.”
joint man — it wasn’t the Sprint Store. That would be the 500 block. The 400 block puts it as part of the mall, so maybe the AT&T store by The Ram or the Verizon near JC Penneys or the T-Mobile by Payless Shoes … none of those would shock me.
Although I do agree with your point about the Sprint employees at that location, but that’s an unrelated issue.
they should of stole all of the phones. the workers at that sprint store are really useless!
Rob, the suspect displayed the weapon during the commission of the crime which elevates it to armed robbery. Just because he displayed the weapon during the getaway doesn’t make it any less “armed”.
I agree with most points, but I have a little trouble equating a teenager stealing a hooded sweatshirt from JC Penny and a person stealing cellphones and flashing a concealed handgun. Are they both shoplifting? Yes, but when someone is carrying a gun and doing it, it escalates the situation quite a bit in my opinion. I would bet that a very large majority of typical mall shoplifting is not done by someone who is armed whether they show the gun or not. Either way, I agree that chasing them was pretty dumb. I also agree that simply saying they got away in a “Nissan” without any suggestion of color, model, etc…. is a pretty weak description.
Sorry guys, still nervous. My 16 year old was in that area just an hour before that walking to the movies. What if there was gun play? Places we frequent are my neighborhood and I don’t like feeling unsafe. And yeah, chasing a suspect puts the public at risk. Its enough to worry about the bad guy now we need to worry about dumb actions of employees as well.
Jeremiah, You are stretching the facts bit here. You call it a case of “armed shoplifting” and make it sound like the “perp” flashed a gun, stole the cell phones and took off. The perp actually stole the phones from a store, took off and THEN flashed a gun (sort of). There is a HUGE difference.
As for how many case of shoplifting there are where the perp is carrying a gun, that number is probably greater than you think… you just never see the gun.
The reality is this was simply a case of shoplifitng at a shopping mall. However, the employees did what police say you should NEVER do… chase the suspect. They are lucky they didn’t get shot or otherwise injured. Jeez folks, use some brain cells. Is your $10/hour job, your well-being and sombody elses’s property REALLY worth that risk?
True. Still, “left the scene in a newer Nissan” is a ridiculous description. It doesn’t even say if it was a car or truck. That’s the type of “detail” that’s better left out if incomplete.
But, it is a case of armed shoplifting, nothing to make people fearful in their homes. Unarmed shoplifting happens daily at the mall, I guarantee it.
Sue, theft at a cellphone store in Northgate shouldn’t make you fearful. It’s different than the type of crime we have in our neighborhood. I also think the title is a big stretch, people ripping off a business for cellphones vs. someone mugging a person for their cellphone is totally different. Cellphone muggings are quite common downtown, in the U-District, at Northgate… busier areas. We walk around with $400 phones in our hands talking on them distracted, it’s a crime of opportunity. My advice is don’t talk on your cellphone when you’re walking around, especially at night when you’re alone. They are snatched almost daily in the U-District, I get the crime reports.
I hate to say but without more details on the suspects and vehicle this sort of information only makes me fearful. It feels like police probably have a description of the vehicle and suspects which would be good to share with the neighborhood.
Hopefully the store selling the mobile phones had a security camera so the cops have a clear picture of what they look like.
If I ran or owned a store in Northgate I would put up a camera filming every person that walked in.