[1]Centralia police are diagraming the scene on Van Buren Street after several gunshots were fired following the robbery of a man’s marijuana today.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – An advertisement on Craigslist by a Centralia man of medical marijuana for sale led to an armed robbery and then several shots being fired in front of his house before the suspects fled.
Two suspects were subsequently arrested in Lacey.
Police called about 12:40 p.m. today to the 200 block of East Van Buren Street learned the 28-year-old Centralia man placed an online ad indicating he had some “extra quality meds” up for donation for medical marijuana patients, according to Centralia police. He listed the price as $125 per ounce, according to police.
When the buyers arrived to Van Buren Street, the seller got in their car and was ordered at gunpoint to hand over the marijuana, according to police. A short struggle ensued, he was struck in the side of the face with a handgun but then escaped their white Hyundai, according to police.
The 28-year-old man then fired several shots at the fleeing vehicle, striking it numerous times, according to police.
The man’s injuries are described as minor; his name has not been released.
Centralia Police Department detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said the victim claims to be a medical marijuana provider and it is illegal to sell it to anyone, but that’s not the focus of the investigation tonight.
Two teenagers from Tacoma were taken into custody in a parking lot off Pacific Avenue in Lacey after their car was spotted by a trooper this afternoon, according to Officer John Panco. The car was impounded and will be searched on Monday, Fitzgerald said.
Booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree robbery were Yahdriel E. Jones, 18, and Howard E. Ross 19, according to the Centralia Police Department.