Three individuals robbed the Twin Lakes Safeway in the early hours of Saturday morning (Sept. 9) by backing a truck into the west entrance of the store.
Eyewitness Stuart Austin told The Mirror that the whole incident took maybe 15 seconds, describing it as a “smash and grab.”
Austin said the individuals driving the truck “backed up into the door, smashing it completely open,” around 1:50 a.m. He said they each grabbed three or four items each, then jumped back in the truck and sped off.
“Luckily the two individuals that were working in the store weren’t hurt. They were just restocking the shelves,” Austin said. He described the black truck as “lifted” and said it had severe damage to the rear of the vehicle in the tailgate area. The suspects were wearing all black, including hoodies or jackets and sweatpants.
The Federal Way Police Department confirmed that the individuals have not been apprehended, but that the truck was located on the scene.
The store manager of the Safeway was unable to comment due to company policy.
This is not the only business that has experienced a robbery involving a vehicle in Federal Way recently. The next evening, a on Sept. 10, officers responded to a commercial alarm at a local store. They determined that a vehicle had rammed the storefront and viewed CCTV of suspects ransacking the premises before fleeing. No leads at this time.
A little over a week earlier on Aug. 28, a cash register was stolen from a business located on the 27200 block of Pacific Highway with the possible involvement of an older model white truck.
Three days before that, police responded to a report of a burglary at a convenience store on Pacific Highway South at 5 a.m. A red truck was used to ram the front door of the business. Four suspects entered the store and took merchandise and money, then fled the scene.
Only a year ago in 2022, three businesses were rammed into with a truck, and individuals similarly entered and burglarized one of the locations. Fikes Products, Precision Garage Doors and DJ Trophy, Awards & Engraving were hit. Entry was not made into Fikes or Precision Doors, according to police reports.
