By Attacks on pharmacies in the Los Angeles, California area have become increasingly brazen and, in some cases, violent. The latest case involved a suspect in a robbery that drove a carjacked vehicle directly into an illegal cannabis dispensary in downtown Los Angeles.
On July 12, a group of suspects carjacked and robbed an unlicensed pharmacy in the downtown Los Angeles area.
“Los Angeles police responded to a call about a shooting near Hooper Street and 15th Avenue in downtown Los Angeles around 4 a.m. Wednesday,” CBS News said. report. “At an illegal marijuana dispensary near an intersection, a black car drove through the steel roller front gate.
About five or six suspects reportedly stole a car with a driver inside on Washington Boulevard. Central street about half a mile away from the pharmacy.
The suspects pushed the driver into the trunk of the car, drove to the pharmacy, and presumably backed up into the front of the building. The victim was reportedly released at the scene of the break-in after the suspects looted the pharmacy.
The driver who was hijacked was unharmed and is reportedly cooperating with police.
After the robbery, the suspects fled in a second vehicle and remained on the run as of Wednesday morning.
Details of the amount of cannabis and cash seized were not made public, and the unlicensed pharmacy is unlikely to recover financially.
More brazen crimes in Los Angeles
Sound familiar? Several recent events in the Los Angeles area have seen an escalation of violence and impudence, forcing retail employees to work in stressful conditions.
The Green Queen pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles has been targeted by burglars for the second time since it opened last year. Green Qween co-owner Andrés Regal told Eyewitness News that the suspects used a car as a lever to drive through the main gate.
In the incident, the suspects used a power tool to open the front gate. Few companies survive such incidents.
“You know, if things like this keep going…we are not being funded by corporations, so we can barely survive like this.The good thing is, every day is good for us. But when something like this happens, it’s a very devastating blow.” For us, it’s very difficult to recover.” Said Regal.
Last December, a group of robbers broke into the Silverlake Caregiver’s Dispensary Group pharmacy in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles and stole hundreds of pounds of cannabis.
“But they seemed organized, like they’d done the same thing before,” says Toby Stein, owner of Silverlake Caregiver Dispensary Group. Said KTLA.
In 2017, Los Angeles city leaders pitched the idea of creating a city-owned bank to help fund small businesses, affordable housing developments, and cannabis entrepreneurs.
Other states face similar problems, and this is not unique to California. Washington’s 2022 proposal to impose tougher penalties for robbing cannabis retailers was approved by state senators last week.
The law Senate Bill 5927the prison sentence for individuals convicted of first- or second-degree robbery at a cannabis store will be extended by one year. TV station KING5 It has been pointed out that it is “the same punishment given to those who rob a pharmacy.”
The latest move on SB 5917 took place on March 10, when the bill was sent back to the Senate Rules Committee for a third reading.
