Police responded to a messy situation early Wednesday morning at the Shell station convenience market at Pike and Broadway. A 911 caller told police that there had been an assault at the store around 2:30 AM. When officers arrived, they found an uncooperative crowd — and a very intoxicated victim inside the store along with several broken wine bottles, according to an SPD spokesperson.

The man told police that a man he met had offered to sell him a phone for $25. When the man agreed and handed over the money, he said he was then approached by two other men and beaten up. In the process, the man said he lost the money, the cell phone he was buying and, sigh, his own cell phone. Bad deal.

Police caught up with a man matching the suspect description later several blocks from the incident but he denied having anything to do with the victim and was interviewed and released.

Sunday Urban Outfitters shoplifting update:
The Sunday afternoon shoplifting and assault incident at Urban Outfitters we reported earlier this week is being investigated as a hate crime. According to the SPD report on the incident, one of the women involved in the alleged shoplifting said “Get away from me you stupid faggot” when she struck the store clerk attempting to detain the women for police.