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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Walgreens robber gets painkillers

Forensic sketch of Pullman rapist. (The Spokesman-Review)
From Staff And Wire Reports

A gunpoint robbery at a north Spokane Walgreens Tuesday netted a young man the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.

The robber walked into the pharmacy at 2105 E. Wellesley Ave. at 5:02 p.m., pointed a black handgun at an employee and left with bottles of pills, Spokane police Officer Brian Eckersley said.

The man is described as a white male in his 20s, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 130 to 140 pounds with a mustache and black hair. He wore a blue hat with a white letter or logo and possibly a blue hoodie or zip-up sweatshirt, witnesses told police.

The OxyContin robbery is the second at a Spokane Walgreens this month.

Terran D. Schatz, 23, was arrested Friday and charged with the June 7 robbery at the Walgreens at 29th Avenue and Grand Boulevard.

Wal-Mart plans bigger than before

The Wal-Mart store planned for the west side of Post Falls will be larger than originally envisioned, according to updated plans received by City Administrator Eric Keck.

Keck said the company wants to begin construction in August and anticipates opening in late spring or early summer of 2010. The store would become Wal-Mart’s second Post Falls location.

The plans call for almost 148,000 square feet of sales space, a 3,500-square-foot garden center and two vestibules at about 1,500 and 1,900 square feet.

The store would be built east of the Cabela’s store near the state line on land Wal-Mart owns, Keck said. “They’re anxious to pull a permit,” he said.

Suspect sought in CdA robberies

Coeur d’Alene police are investigating two robberies – one successful, the other not – in downtown Coeur d’Alene Tuesday afternoon. The robber descriptions in both are similar.

Witnesses said a man walked into the Zip’s Stop at Seventh Street and Sherman Avenue about 6:10 p.m., and started to put on a face mask, said Sgt. Bill Tilson. One witness said the man may have had a gun.

The store clerk and a customer became frightened and went into the store office for safety, Tilson said. The man left the store without taking anything.

Little more than an hour later, a man walked into the Shell station at 508 Northwest Blvd. He paid for an item, and when the clerk went to give him change, he reached into the register and took an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

He then fled the store, riding a white BMX-style bicycle east on Garden Avenue.

The man is described as white, 18 to 20 years old, 6 feet tall with a slender build, a large nose, deep-set eyes and possibly short blond hair.

He was wearing a black zip-up hoodie with a light-colored design on the zipper, long black shorts, a long white T-shirt with a design in the left breast area, black skater shoes and no socks.

Anybody with information is asked to call (208) 769-2296.

Police looking for armed rapist

Pullman – Pullman police are searching for a man they say forced his way into the apartment of 56-year-old woman and raped her on June 5.

The man, armed with a knife, forced his way into the woman’s home in the Military Hill neighborhood about 3 p.m. and sexually assaulted her, police said.

He was described as white, in his late 50s or early 60s, more than 6 feet tall, very obese, balding, with short gray hair and blue eyes. He was wearing gray sweat pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call Pullman police at (509) 334-0802 or the Whitman County Dispatch Center at (509) 332-3023.

Man hospitalized in ax-handle fight

A fight over money led to an ax-handle attack that sent one man to a hospital and another to jail Monday, police said.

Jon A. Bedard, 42, was arrested after police responded to the 200 block of North Marguerite road about 6:30 p.m. and saw him walking nearby wearing a blood-soaked shirt, according to Spokane Valley police.

He told police the friend he’d been fighting had driven to Spokane Valley Hospital and Medical Center, where officers found the 45-year-old man with a 2-inch gash to his head and an injured right thumb that could require reconstructive surgery, according to a news release.

The victim told police the fight began when Bedard entered the victim’s home when he was out of town, possibly to retrieve money owed, police said.

Bedard also used a metal pipe in the assault, police said. He was booked into jail on second-degree assault and a misdemeanor warrant.

Driver-in-training crashes into house

A car smashed into a house in Coeur d’Alene Tuesday after the driver mistook the accelerator for the brake, police said.

Wandee Katanaree, 30, was cited for misdemeanor careless driving after her 1999 B-4000 Mazda pickup crashed through the living room of a home at 622 N. 17th about 10:46 a.m., according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

No one was inside at the time.

The crash damaged the home’s foundation and forced the owner to secure the roof after the car took out a support beam, police said.

Katanaree said she had her learner’s permit and was practicing backing up when she hit the accelerator, police said.