A Thurston County Superior Court judge set bail Tuesday at $100,000 each for two men accused of robbing the Olympia Target with a gun Sunday night.
Trenale L. Belton, 44, and Mowlid Abdi Hersi, 31, are accused of first-degree robbery while armed with a deadly weapon. Hersi also is accused of second-degree kidnapping and first-degree theft.
Judge John Skinder set the bail amount citing a risk to the community. He also barred the two men from contacting each other, Target stores or the Target employee they allegedly threatened.
Police arrested Belton early Monday morning in the South Capitol neighborhood after pursuing the U-Haul van witnesses said they fled in. They abandoned the vehicle and went their separate ways on foot. Police later arrested Hersi near the Safeway on Cleveland Avenue in Tumwater.
Probable cause statements offer the following account of law enforcement's investigation into robbery:
Olympia police responded to a reported robbery with a gun at the Target on Harrison Avenue in west Olympia at 10:09 p.m. Sunday.
Officers interviewed a Target employee who told them that two men approached him in the electronics department, one in a red shirt, allegedly Hersi, showing the employee a gun in his waistband.
"It's cool, it's cool, just open the case and put the watches in the bag," the man in the red shirt reportedly said to the employee.
The employee then filled a cart with smartwatches and headphones, according to the statement.
Afterwards, the man in the red shirt reportedly forced the employee to walk with him to the front exit while the other man dressed in gray, allegedly Belton, fled through a back exit with the electronics, triggering the alarm.
The walk to the front door formed the basis for the second-degree kidnapping accusation against Hersi, said deputy prosecuting attorney Scott Jackson at the preliminary appearance Tuesday.
A witness and security footage corroborated the employee's story, the statement read, and the footage also showed the two men fleeing in a U-Haul van outside.
Another officer pursed the van all the way to Olympia's South Capitol neighborhood and saw a passenger run away from the vehicle when he got close, according to the statement.
The responding officer found a wallet that the passenger dropped as he ran away, the statement read. The wallet reportedly contained a Washington driver's license belonging to Trenale L. Belton.
Police also found a cell phone less than 3 feet from the opened driver's side door of the van, according to the statement. The phone, which did not require a security code or fingerprint to access, reportedly rang just after midnight. An officer answered.
"Where you at?" said a man's voice, according to the statement.
"I'm in the neighborhood. I'm on 18th (Avenue Southeast). I'm in someone's yard, inside of their car. I'm trying to steal it, but I don't have my keys. Hello? Are they still patrolling? Where you at?"
The phone rang two more times and each time the person on the other end reconfirmed they were on 18th Avenue hiding in an alley, the statement read. A K9 from Thurston County Sheriff's Office helped police locate and arrest Belton on that street.
Later that day, Intercity Transit called dispatch and notified them that a man matching the description of the person in red was on a bus, according to the statement. Police contacted the man and identified him as Hersi with a fingerprint scanner.
After searching the U-Haul van, police recovered stolen items worth $6,368 and returned them to Target, the statement read.
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