Olympia police arrested three juveniles and an adult for allegedly robbing a gas station convenience store on the east side Wednesday afternoon.
The three juveniles were booked into Thurston County juvenile detention and one adult was booked into the county jail, Police Lt. Paul Lower said. All four have been accused of first-degree robbery, he said.
No one was injured in the incident.
Officers responded at about 2 p.m. to the store on the 2300 block of Fourth Avenue East, Lower said. An employee told officers that three boys rushed into the store and took a display rack with vaping products, he said. They reportedly wore hoodies and face masks.
The employee reported he tried to stop the boys but one of them implied he had a handgun, Lower said. Two of the boys fled in a car driven by an adult while the third boy was grabbed by the employee, he said.
The remaining boy managed to break free from the employee and fled on foot, but Lower said officers found him about a block away near a bus stop.
Lacey police officers spotted the fleeing car on the 4200 block of Sixth Avenue Southeast about 10 minutes after the robbery, Lower said. Olympia and Lacey police officers "conducted a traffic stop" and arrested the three occupants without incident, he said.
Photographs captured by The Olympian at the scene showed a swarm of police vehicles behind a gray sedan and the occupants exiting the car with their hands up.
The store employee later identified the suspects, Lower said. Officers recovered what appeared to be a BB gun and an airsoft gun from the vehicle, he added.
