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UPDATED: Medical marijuana distributors robbed at gunpoint, Tacoma police report

Post by Stacey Mulick / The News Tribune on Aug. 18, 2011 at 8:06 am |
August 18, 2011 11:18 am

UPDATED at 9:30 a.m.

Tacoma police were searching for three men who robbed two medical marijuana distributors Wednesday night in the city.

The victims are a husband and wife who live in Burien, Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. They received a call Wednesday from a man who they thought was a legitimate medical marijuana patient.

The couple traveled to Tacoma to meet the potential buyer. When the couple couldn’t find the initial meet-up location, they called the potential buyer, Fulghum said.

He directed the couple to a second location – a home in the 2100 block of South M Street. The couple knocked on the door about 8:30 p.m. but got no answer, Fulghum said.

They called the buyer again. He said he was in the backyard and would be right out.

Three men then ran from the backyard. One punched the husband, knocking him to the ground. The suspect grabbed a duffel bag the man was carrying.

A second suspect grabbed a box the wife was holding, Fulghum said. When the husband tried to get up, the third suspect pulled out a gun.

The suspects ran off. The husband declined medical aid. The robbers took an estimated $8,000 worth of marijuana from the victims, police reported.

The victims provided police with the following descriptions of the suspects:

* The one who punched the husband was black, in his 20s, 6 feet 2 and 275 pounds. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jean shorts.

* The suspect who grabbed the box from the wife was black, in his 20s, 5 feet 8 and 170 pounds. He had short hair.

* The suspect who wielded a gun was Hispanic, in his 20s, 5 feet 8 and 170 pounds. He wore a white-and-black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

A police dog searched for the suspects but did not find them.
