Pot shop nearly robbed at gunpoint, restaurant hit later

SNOHOMISH, Wash. — Investigators in Snohomish County are searching for two men who tried to hold up two shops in and around Everett.

Authorities in the area say the duo tried to break into a pot shop called "The Kushery" on 134th Place Southeast -- and "Lucky Teriyaki" on 19th Avenue Southeast.

Their efforts happened in fairly rapid succession. Authorities say they tried to hit the pot shop around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and then hit the Teriyaki restaurant around 5:30 p.m. to 5:40 p.m.

At one point, police may have been searching for the suspects along a power line trail near Seattle Hill Road.

KIRO 7 spoke to employees at both The Kushery and Lucky Teriyaki. Hochun Jung works at Lucky Teriyaki and says the two men came right in making demands, “Where's the safe?"

"We said we don't have a safe here," Jung said. "They were so angry and they were, 'Where's the Safe?”

Jung and his coworker, Hyunju Shin, said it was a pretty slow day at their teriyaki shop Tuesday, but it ended with a robbery that came on so fast, customers were frozen to their seats while it happened.

Shin said all of them were gripped with fear for less than three minutes as two armed men demanded money -- and held them at gunpoint, “We don't have it so I just opened the register ... and there. I was very scared....they put the gun for my face.”

Shin and Jung say Lucky Teriyaki was robbed around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. They remembered because they checked the time stamps on their receipts. Within the next hour, authorities were searching the area and a nearby power line trail for the suspects.

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KIRO 7 showed Shin and Jung a photo of the suspects and they did say that they recognized the pair -- but the photo came from the first place that police say the pair tried to rob: The Kushery, where employee Kip Dahl saw the men try to get in.

“They just came bursting through the door, tried to open it real quick. They had a handgun out,” Dahl said.

Kip Dahl works at the pot shop and says it was around 4:30 p.m. when the men tried to barge in. They were locked out and got nothing -- but Dahl says The Kushery cameras got a photo of them.

“They're obviously not very smart," he said.

Both the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office and Everett police were involved in the search for the two men. They were only successful at the Teriyaki restaurant, Shin admits she’s simply thankful no one got hurt.

“I'm thinking I just have to survive...get the money,” Shin said.

The men working at the pot shop said the suspects appeared to get away on foot and didn't see them with a car. Authorities are still searching for the suspects.

Cox Media Group