Tag: chris hunt

Beer shoplifter pulls out butcher knife at Shell station on Holly Street


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 12, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

BELLINGHAM — A man brandished a butcher knife at a cashier after shoplifting an 18-pack of cheap beer from a downtown Bellingham gas station Monday afternoon, Nov. 12.

At the time of this post, he’s still at-large.

Chris Hunt, a cashier at the Shell station on East Holly Street, said two men in their 20s walked into the store about 1:45 p.m. and made a beeline for the beer section. The taller man grabbed an 18-pack of Icehouse beer and ran for the door, handing it off to his buddy as they tried to get away.

The tall man got onto a skateboard and rode west on Holly. Hunt caught up with him about a half a block down the street. When he got within arm’s reach, Hunt said, the man pulled out a knife with a blade about a foot long and waved it at him.

“I’m not sure if it was real or not,” Hunt said. “But it looked real enough right then.”

He backed off. But a passing driver saw what was happening and tried to follow the culprits. They were last seen heading into an alley behind the Copper Hog, 1327 N. State St. The skateboarder crashed at some point in his getaway, so he may have visible injuries.

Hunt described the tall man as 6-foot-2, with blond hair, a black hat, a white hoodie and a distinctive scar on his lower lip. The cashier, who has worked there for about three years, recognized the tall man as someone who comes in every so often — and often makes a nuisance out of himself, he said. The shorter man was about 5-foot-10, with red hair and a greenish jacket.

Police didn’t have their reports finished at the time of this post — and were still actively searching for the suspects — so they weren’t able to pass along any info this afternoon. We’ll put something in print if the cops confirm the details.

The gas station has a few security cameras, so if police obtained footage, we’ll try to get some images out there if they’re available.

Anybody with tips should call the Bellingham Police Department at 360-778-8800. After hours, call 911.

(By Hunt’s account, I must have gotten that backwards.)


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