Teen Attacks Clerk During Store Robbery

A teenager wandered through a Rite Aid Drug Store early Monday morning, tried to steal a basket of items and attacked a store clerk, police said.

The young man entered the store at Division and Rowan about midnight and collected various items in a hand basket, said Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam. He spent about 30 minutes in the store, then approached the clerk at a cash register and pulled out a can of pepper spray.

He attempted to spray the clerk in the face, but missed, Cottam said. He then dropped the spray and ran outside with the basket of stolen items. The clerk said he ran to a blue-over-silver four-door compact car without license plates. The robber escaped, and the clerk was not injured.

The robber was described as a white male between 16 and 18 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 190 pounds, with brown hair. He was wearing a dark shirt and tan trousers.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

Smoking boys get angry, steal bike

Four small boys were walking behind the Safeway in the Northpoint Shopping Center Feb. 13 at about 3:30 p.m. when they saw two older boys standing nearby, smoking, police said.

One of the 12-year-olds said to the pair, “You shouldn’t smoke,” said Cottam. The older boys immediately began screaming at the four and, when they started to leave, one of the smokers started firing BB pellets at the group, Cottam said. Then he grabbed one boy’s bicycle, put it in his car and drove away.

The bike is a chrome-colored Magna Freestyle bike with a white front tire and black rim. The car the two men drove was a light blue two-door, possibly a Toyota. Both suspects were described as Hispanic and in their late teens. One was about 6 feet 1 inch tall, and the other was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and heavyset.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.