By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The sheriff’s office is investigating an armed robbery they learned about yesterday but occurred about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday at a warehouse in Centralia.
The 37-year-old victim told a deputy a masked individual came into the office on the 2600 block of Commercial Boulevard wearing black leather gloves and carrying a black semi-automatic pistol, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The intruder took the cell phones of the victim and his friend and took $30 to $40 cash from the till, according to the sheriff’s office.
The victim said he retrieved his own pistol from a shelf while the robber went into an adjoining room and tried to shoot the robber, but had forgotten to chamber a round, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. The subject fled, Brown said.
The victim is from Ellsworth, Wisconsin, Brown said. The business is Victory Fireworks.
The suspect was described as about 5-feet 11-inches tall, thin and having dark brown skin, Brown said.
Both phones were found in the grass of a neighboring business that night, according to Brown.
Brown said the victim told the deputy he normally keeps his 45 caliber Highpoint loaded with a magazine, but with no round chambered. The victim said he and his friend both had to work the following morning, so waited to report what happened.
There are no suspects, she said.