Lakewood business owner says he was threatened before his store was burglarized

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A Lakewood gaming and collectibles shop lost over $25,000 in inventory this past weekend.

PNW Gaming and Collectibles owner, Robert Cantrell opened this store to run it with his twin sister, Kassanndra Cantrell. But months before opening its doors, Kassanndra was murdered in August 2020. Her death became known worldwide and as a result, her family, specifically her twin brother, has been on the receiving end of threatening behavior.

“Kassie’s story was covered worldwide so we’ve had people show up to the store with guns, people trying to rob me, threaten me, I mean I’ve dealt with crazies,” said her twin brother Robert.

But on August 8th and 9th, two peculiar incidents occurred leading Robert to believe there may be a connection to Sunday morning’s burglary.

Robert told KIRO 7, “Thursday people came in and one shoplifted from us. Then the next day the other guy comes in to say ‘Hey, this person could’ve stolen this from you are these yours?’ and he brought in the two Pokémon slabs that were stolen,” Robert said that there were serial codes and barcodes on these collector’s items making it easy to identify who they belong to.

Robert says the individual told him, “I did the righteous thing, why don’t you do the righteous thing and pay me?” and when he denied any payments some threats followed; allegedly telling Robert, “Well this is probably an unsafe place for you, this is the hood…that it would probably be for my health and safety to be out of here within 24 hours if not, the store probably wouldn’t survive the weekend.”

Then, 36 hours later his store was burglarized.

Robert doesn’t know if any of this is connected to the anniversary of his sister’s death. Still, as he continues to tally the damages done, and dollars lost, there is a GoFundMe page up and running to collect donations to help offset some of the losses.

Lakewood Police Department is also investigating this case. If you have any information you are asked to call (253) 830-5064.

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