Shoplifting at store turns into armed robbery
Kitsap WA June 9 2020 A shoplifting suspect accused of pointing a gun at a Central Market security guard who chased him and two women into the parking lot last month was charged Friday with first-degree robbery.
Andrew James Williams, 30, of Seatac, is accused of going to the Poulsbo store on May 19 with two women and stealing “numerous health and beauty items,” according to court documents. The three ran to a parked vehicle, with the security guard chasing one of the women. As the security guard approached the vehicle, the man, now in the driver’s seat, pointed what looked like a semiautomatic pistol at him.
“Rather than get shot (the security guard) stopped chasing the woman and she got into the Chevy Traverse with the other two suspects,” a Poulsbo police detective wrote in court documents.
The security guard recorded video of the chase with his phone, which showed the man pointing the gun. That image was distributed among local law enforcement agencies, and the Kitsap County sheriff’s devices identified the man as a suspect in a Silverdale shoplifting case. A corrections officer in King County identified the man as Williams, according to court documents.
