Olympia police arrested three youths and an adult on Wednesday afternoon for robbing a gas station convenience store on the east side.
The three juveniles were booked at Thurston County Juvenile Detention Center and one adult was booked at the county jail, Police Lieutenant Paul Lower said. All four have been charged with first-degree robbery, he said.
No one was injured in the incident.
Officers responded to the store on the 2300 block of Fourth Avenue East around 2 p.m., Lower said. An employee told officers three boys burst into the store and took a rack of vaping products, he said. They reportedly wore hoodies and face masks.
The employee reported trying to stop the boys, but one of them suggested he had a gun, Lower said. Two of the boys fled in a car driven by an adult while the third boy was grabbed by the employee, he said.
The remaining boy managed to break free from the employee and fled on foot, but according to Lower, officers found him at a bus stop about a block away.
Lacey police officers spotted the fleeing car about 10 minutes after the robbery at the 4200 block of Sixth Avenue Southeast, Lower said. Olympia and Lacey police officers “performed a traffic check” and arrested the three occupants without incident, he said.
Photos taken by The Olympian at the scene showed a swarm of police vehicles behind a gray sedan and the occupants exiting the car with their hands raised.
The store employee later identified the suspects, Lower said. Officers found what appeared to be a BB gun and an airsoft pistol from the vehicle, he added.
