Armed robbers hit two Federal Way gas stations

Published 11:11 am Monday, July 25, 2011

Two armed robberies happened in quick succession early Monday morning in Federal Way, with what appears to be the same group of men robbing two locations within a 20-minute span.

A group of three males entered the Chevron station at Pacific Highway South and South 348th Street at approximately 2:30 a.m. Monday, wearing masks and brandishing weapons. They robbed the clerk and left the location on foot. Federal Way Police Department Cmdr. Stan McCall said K-9 units were unable to find a trail.

“We attempted to utilize a K-9 unit to track them, but were unsuccessful,” McCall said. “The trail ended pretty abruptly, so we believe they may have had a car in the area.”

At 2:49 a.m., the same group of men are suspected of entering the Chevron station located at Southwest Dash Point Road and South 312th Street. According to a report from Kiro 7 News, the clerk was in the back at the time of the robbery. He was pulled out of the back of the store and forced to open the cash register. One man pointed a gun at the clerk, while another watched the door, according to the report.

The K-9 unit was brought to the second scene, but was unable to successfully track the suspects.

McCall said the suspects are white males. Identification may be difficult because of the dark masks the suspects wore during the robberies, McCall said. The suspects made their intentions clear, McCall said.

“All three men were armed with handguns, and they brandished them,” he said.

Detectives are reviewing surveillance footage from both locations and are continuing their investigations as of Monday morning.