RENTON, Wash. — Three teens arrested for robbing a Highlands store at gunpoint have now been linked to a second incident earlier that day.
In the original case, police responded to calls of a robbery around 5:21 a.m., where the victim said that four people, two of them armed, had entered a store in the 1100 block of Sunset Boulevard Northeast and taken alcohol, vape products, and cash registers before leaving.
According to police, they spotted the getaway car and tried to chase them down, but the suspects got away. The car the suspects were driving was later found in Tukwila around 7 a.m.
That same day, Oregon police chased down another car with two suspects, arresting a 14 and 15-year-old suspected to be involved in the robbery.
On July 25, a 16-year-old wearing the same hat seen in surveillance video was also arrested. The fourth suspect seen in the surveillance footage is still on the loose.
Investigators have now linked the three arrested teenagers to a robbery from earlier that morning. According to Renton PD, the three teens smashed their way into a store in the 4000 block of Sunset Boulevard Northeast at around 3 a.m., throwing a cement block through a window and the front door to gain entry.
They are seen on a surveillance video stealing money, alcohol, and vape products in the same clothes as their later crime. The fourth teenager was not seen in any surveillance video from the first robbery and is thought to have joined later.
In addition to the robbery, assault, eluding, and obstruction felony charges for the original Highland robbery, the three now face charges of second-degree burglary and second-degree malicious mischief.
All three suspects remain in custody, with no word yet on the fourth suspect’s whereabouts.