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Gunfire as 15th Ave E pot shop Ruckus held up in reported armed robbery — UPDATE

Gunfire shattered glass and an employee was reportedly grazed by a bullet in an armed robbery late Saturday night at E Republican and 15th Ave E pot shop Ruckus.

Just before 11:45 PM, an employee reported the gunfire as the suspect sped away in reverse before fleeing southbound on 15th Ave E. Police were searching for a silver or grey crossover type SUV  hatchback.

Police had taped off E Republican and were collecting evidence at the scene, interviewing witnesses, and looking for possible video from security cameras in the area still busy with holiday nightlife revelers. Shattered glass was piled below the front door of the small pot shop across from larger competitor Uncle Ike’s as a Ruckus security guard was interviewed by police.

UPDATE: According to police, the male suspect entered Rucks and pointed a gun at employees, demanding money. The suspect also filled a bag with products from behind the counter, police say. The suspect reportedly then tried to flee the store, leaving behind the bag of cash. “The employees immediately locked the front door, but the suspect returned, attempting to get back in,” SPD reports. “When the suspect could not open the doors, he pulled out his gun and fired several times at the door.”

We don’t know more about the employee’s reported injury. Seattle Fire left the scene nearly the minute they arrived. UPDATE: SPD says the employee sustained a minor injury to his hand.

There were no details available about what was taken in the hold-up. Police had a suspect and vehicle description to work with and were reviewing video from the business. There were no immediate arrests.

UPDATE 12/30/19: SPD says there is more to the Ruckus incident:

Here’s why police say they aren’t searching for suspect after reported armed robbery and gunfire at Capitol Hill pot shop

 

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RWK
RWK
4 years ago

I have gradually come around to being in favor of pot legalization, but there is a downside, and this kind of serious crime is one of them.

L
L
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

I think these crimes will taper off once these businesses can start accepting credit cards instead of cash only.

They won’t cease completely (liquor stores, an analogous business, still get robbed). But I don’t hear about Seattle liquor stores being hit constantly.

JR
JR
4 years ago
Reply to  L

They do attract some pretty shady loiterers however, I had never seen groups of people just camp out in front of stores before Ike’s moved in. I generally avoid walking around those stores, sex shops would be a step up.

caphillguy
caphillguy
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

Wait till you hear about all banks.

nettles
nettles
4 years ago
Reply to  caphillguy

exactly

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago

Ruckus is a nuisance business that should be shut down. This is the 4th shooting in 2019 associates with it. Young kids continue to gather on the street corner to buy underage.

Calling the Liquor Board first thing Monday morning, and will be calling with every infraction I witness from here forward.

Tom
Tom
4 years ago
Reply to  Shut It Down

I hear banks attract armed robbers from time to time as well, we should shut all of them down while we’re at it. After all, they’ve resulted in more harm to the public then these cannabis shops who can’t use a bank.

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago
Reply to  Tom

If a bank on my street had been the site of 4 armed robberies in six months, you’d better believe I’d be arguing to shut that down too. But none have been and neither has Uncle Ike’s, so it’s pretty irrelevant to this situation.

We have small kids who were awakened by gunfire last night and I am DONE. It is an unsafe situation and everyone knows it. A death is inevitable unless this nuisance business is closed down.

But sure, you come on here and argue that everything is fine as soon as you’re willing to walk by this place multiple times a day with your young kids. If the business cannot control the security situation they should shut their doors.

And selling to minors is DEFINITELY a liquor board violation. They deserve to lose their license.

We Know it’s you
We Know it’s you
4 years ago
Reply to  Shut It Down

Shut up, Ian

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago

Right, because the only one who cares about gun violence in the neighborhood is a competitor who might benefit. Not the people who actually, you know, live here.

You Ruckus patrons disgust me with your endless half-baked excuses about why this nuisance business should be allowed to continue. Buy your drugs elsewhere, there’s plenty of places. Stop supporting this harmful and negligent shop.

“We know it’s you” doesn’t care if you die
“We know it’s you” doesn’t care if you die
4 years ago

Shut up, Sam Burke. We know it’s you :P

Because getting shot is not a real concern, so the only person who could possibly want Ruckus shut down is his competitor. Not the many people who WOKE UP TO GUNSHOTS OR THE PEOPLE WHO GOT SHOT AT.

Steve
Steve
4 years ago

I don’t know how they sell to minors when they check my ID 2x every single time I go in there…
Keep on pearl clutching over minor crime in a large city, I’m sure that’ll fix things…

Jon
Jon
4 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Kids ‘peg’ for cannabis near the store. In other words, they ask adults to buy for them (usually siblings or older friends; sometimes strangers).

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Seven shots fired in the middle of the street through the door, injuring someone, is not a minor crime. Armed robbery is not a minor crime.

Selling to minors might be a minor crime, but in this case the total failure to address it is part of a pattern of disregard for public safety.

Glad to hear you don’t give an ef about our neighborhood. Maybe you should pay the full cost of your drugs instead of offloading that security risk onto those who live nearby.

JR
JR
4 years ago
Reply to  Shut It Down

Makes perfect sense to me. No doubt the bank down the street has more cash, but they picked the easier target.

kseattle
kseattle
4 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Steve it is more than a public nuisance. Gunfire doesn’t stop at shop walls. Both uncle Ike’s and Ruckus have changed the character of the neighborhood. I take my kid to daycare at 8 in the morning and there are people smoking on the street. For some reason they see a curious toddler and start yammering and harassing us. AT 8 IN THE MORNING.. Shut it down has it right. This is not minor, it’s escalation. Sorry if we care about our neighborhood being safe for everyone more than you do. Before having kids I probably cared less too…

Karen
Karen
4 years ago
Reply to  kseattle

Yeah, I remember when the gunfire and drug use was confined to the CD, and our expensive redlined neighborhood didn’t have to deal with any of this! Not to mention all the poor people and scary teens hanging out on the sidewalk where I can see them. When I was a teen I had to buy weed off a drug dealer, so carding wasn’t an issue, clearly so much better!

caphillguy
caphillguy
4 years ago
Reply to  kseattle

This is nonsense. Changed the character of the Neighborhood? Obviously you haven’t been here long.

kseattle
kseattle
4 years ago
Reply to  kseattle

Maybe have not been in Seattle as long as some, but 10 years is enough time to grow through my late 20s-30s with a neighborhood. Technically a millennial here. 15th was the sleepy side of the hill when you got too old for Broadway. As for crime here vs the CD people are pissed that Uncle Ike’s went up right next to a community center. Are you really going to discredit that reaction too? Of course no one is saying oh yeah let’s just keep crime redlined. That’s a lot of conjecture there. Before Seattle I lived in much worse neighborhoods than Seattle could imagine in central LA and I can tell you nobody wants to be around when stray bullets kill two-year olds. And seriously when was the last time a local bank was robbed by gunpoint? I support legal weed and voted for it. The way it has been implemented is garbage.

Blampy frogton
Blampy frogton
4 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Hey everyone, Steve’s easygoing attitude makes him immune to bullets! If only I could stop clutching my pearls for two seconds and chill like good old Steve here I’d be bulletproof too!

Thanks for the tip dude!

Michael Wesner
Michael Wesner
4 years ago

Those two pot stores do not belong in a residential area such as 15th ave. They belong in an industrial area outside of where residents live. The fast car traffic in that area is unbelievable. Someone will be hit one day. I am always in fear of walking in that area.

Rezone Now
Rezone Now
4 years ago

These irresponsible businesses were forced on us without any consideration for public safety. There was zero community engagement on whether this was appropriate siting for this type of commerce. The zoning has shoehorned this activity into a few highly impacted zones. It’s unfair and now dangerous. We need to take a hard look at the zoning and licensing of these establishments. They are making bank while the public pays the external costs. Someone is going to get killed here.

JSeven
JSeven
4 years ago

Is easy to blame cannabis stores for the influx of panhandling and the armed robberies that have occurred, but that is a very shortsighted conclusion.

The problem is having a business that has no choice but to except cash. As long as cannabis is not federally legal, the owners of these businesses are forced to accept cash and not plastic. This creates a mecca for the cash hungry – hence panhandlers and robbers.

People panhandle outside cannabis retailers precisely because they know every one walking in has cash. People rob cannabis retailers precisely because they know they have large amounts of cash on hand.

Ruckus needs to step up and provide better protection for its employees who are the real victims of this crime. But the bottom line is cannabis retail is not the real reason why bad shit is happening.

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago
Reply to  JSeven

And this is why Ruckus should be shut down. Because after (at least) 4 armed robberies they have still not stepped up to provide adequate security. No one in this thread has raised the issue of panhandling, although that is annoying. Right now we’re talking about persistent armed robbery and multiple shootings.

Either pot shops are a regular business and need to be closed when they become persistent magnets for criminal activity or they’re not a regular business and they don’t belong in this area.

Saying that we should put up with gun violence is 100 unacceptable, outrageous, and gross.

Rezone Now
Rezone Now
4 years ago

Cannabis retail is exactly the reason armed robberies are occurring right beside residential streets and a highly used bus stop. They should not be located here. Everyone is sick of it, and we are not going to wait around and be target practice. Time to hold the business owners who abuse our neighborhoods accountable and the politicians, some of whom live nearby, need to step up and put an end to this. Cannabis retail or profiteering does not belong adjacent to residential housing. It puts the residents at too great a risk.

caphillguy
caphillguy
4 years ago
Reply to  Rezone Now

Everyone loves the pot shops, boomer. Maybe you should move.

Glenn
Glenn
4 years ago
Reply to  caphillguy

Oh, how clever.

Shut It Down
Shut It Down
4 years ago
Reply to  caphillguy

I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 20 years since I was a tiny baby dyke and to say I should move rather than try to create a safe place to raise my kids is so incredibly effed up.

How do you sleep at night?

CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
4 years ago
Reply to  caphillguy

Not a boomer here…. voted to legalize, but even so I don’t exactly love pot shops, or I should specifically say pot.

I really don’t care if you want to do it – but….. do it somewhere where it isn’t fouling up the atmosphere for other people – the stuff stinks horrendously and stop, stop, stop toking and driving… The amount of pot reek I smell coming out of cars is ridiculous. If you want to get high take an Uber.

Oh… and businesses that sell it definitely need to be cognizant that criminals *know* they are a cash only business and as such will usually have lots on hand…. If they aren’t working very diligently to protect themselves they are doing a disservice to their customers, their neighbors and especially their workers. It’s don’t think it’s either some big coincidence or conspiracy that certain pot shops get hit and others don’t.

Rezone Now
Rezone Now
4 years ago

People hate the pot shops. They are more than a hazard, they are a danger to public safety. It’s obvious that those inclined are getting bolder in their efforts to rob them. We cannot accept this as normal and just hope nothing else happens. They cannot securitize themselves and are putting everyone, including their customers, staff and the general public in harm’s way. Time for them to go. Jenny Durkan needs to intervene with the state and remove these threats to the public safety now.

Bob
Bob
4 years ago

Does Ruckus have a camera outside? I want to see when the robber realizes he left the cash inside. Should be amusing.

Millie
Millie
4 years ago

100% convinced Sawant will solve this with rent control!

Ruining the Neighborhood
Ruining the Neighborhood
4 years ago

Ruckus and Uncle Ike’s have ruined this neighborhood. We’ve lived here for 3 years and have watched the rapid degradation of societal norms because of these trashy businesses. Voted for legalization, but these shops shouldn’t be allowed in such residential neighborhoods.

Both locations do little to stop the constant panhandling, minors buying through the homeless or the constant trash piles left each morning. They should loose their licenses and pot shops shouldnt be allowed in this neighborhood. I assume they are chummy with the city counsel which is why they are allowed to continue to act as a vile addition to Capital Hill. Its truly embarrassing.