SEQUIM — Businesses are being asked to stay on the lookout for what appears to be a shoplifting gang that tried to rob the Sequim Wal-Mart on Sunday of hundreds of dollars in electronic equipment.
Wal-Mart employees reported that when an employee stopped a 12- or 13-year-old white male attempting to push a cartload of stolen merchandise through the front door of the store at about 6:10 p.m., the juvenile pulled an air-gun replica of a pistol and stuck it in the employee’s side and threatened him, Sequim Police said in a statement.
The employee knocked the pistol out of the boy’s hand, but then the youth pulled a hunting knife and threatened the employee again, the statement said.
The suspect then fled on foot and police were unable to locate him.
Video reviewed by police
After reviewing store surveillance video of the area, police concluded that the youth was not acting alone, but was a part of an organized shoplifting scam, Sequim Police Sgt. Sean Madison said.
Footage shows a group of four to six people — some as young as 12 and at least one woman in her 30s — working together inside the store, gathering items and distracting employees.
“This was done pretty well and we’ve never seen anything like this before,” Madison said.
“There’s no question they were working together.”
He added that police suspect the group is not from the Sequim area.
Sequim police are encouraging anyone with information on the robbery to call 360-683-7227.
