Another Tavern Robbed By Bandit Wielding Shotgun

A masked man robbed a Spokane Valley tavern at gunpoint Saturday, taking an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register.

The bandit entered the Brass Faucet Tavern, 13524 E. Sprague, at about 10:20 a.m. with a short-barrel shotgun.

He ordered a female employee to give him money from the cash register. He then herded the woman and a customer into a bathroom before leaving the tavern.

Neither the employee nor the customer were injured, and no shots were fired, said sheriff’s deputy David Reagan.

The robber was described as 35 to 40 years old, 5-foot-7, 140 pounds. He was wearing a blue bandana over his face, cotton gloves, a gray stocking cap, gray ski jacket and blue jeans.

No getaway car was seen.

The heist is similar to the robbery of another Valley tavern a week earlier.

An employee of the Blue Keg Tavern, at the corner of Trent Avenue and Pines Road, was forced to empty that bar’s cash register and safe on Feb. 7 by a man with a shotgun or rifle. The employee was bound with duct tape before the robber fled, but not harmed.

Both robberies happened in the morning.

“It sounds similar,” Reagan said, but added he has no information to indicate the two are connected.

Fire destroys garage

Two boys playing with matches Monday afternoon set a fire that destroyed a garage.

No one was injured by the blaze, but the unattached garage behind a home at 1424 N. University was a total loss, said Eric Olson, Valley Fire District deputy fire marshal.

Two brothers, ages 7 and 8, admitted to their parents that they set the fire, Olson said. Both will be enrolled in Valley Fire’s Juvenile Fire Stoppers program, designed to teach children the dangers of playing with matches.

A neighbor reported seeing smoke coming from Jason and Gretchen Weikleemget’s garage at about 3:45 p.m. Monday. Flames engulfed the garage when firefighters arrived.

Damage was estimated at about $10,000.

Another neighbor saw the boys playing near the garage before the fire started. Olson talked to the boys and their mother about the fire, and the boys later told their parents they had started the fire.

“We talked a little bit about the fire,” Olson said. “The kids were kind of nervous.”

, DataTimes