Marine recruiters stop a robbery in progress


KIRO, a new station out of the greater Seattle area, broke news of a robbery that Marines intercepted. Around 4:56 PM on Tuesday, police responded to a report of an attempted robbery in the parking lot in the Alderwood Mall.

Two men approached a woman as she tried to get into her car. They claimed to have a gun, and said that they were robbing her. The victim, a 60 year old resident, shoved the two men and got in her car. As they tried to flee the scene, she followed them in her car.

Three United States Marine Corp recruiters saw the two men running, and heard her calls for help. “We thought there was road rage involved or a fight broke loose,” said Sgt. Riccardo Schebesta.

“She said, ‘Help me I’m being robbed.’ I stopped paying attention to her. She’s not the problem,” said Staff Sgt. Ben Shoemaker. He saw one of the suspects trying to run from him, and knew exactly what to do. “No — that kid was never going to outrun me,” Shoemaker added. “Marines run towards the sound of chaos.”

Shoemaker detained one of the suspects with a technique called an “arm bar” which instantly incapacitated the suspect. “An arm bar keeps him on his feet, but keeps him compliant,” he said. “As Staff Sgt. Shoemaker detained the first guy, I got on the phone with 911. At the time there were no police officers on the scene,” said Staff Sgt. Bryson Twigg, the third Marine to aid the situation.

One suspect was able to flee the scene, but the suspect that was detained was later arrested. A baseball bat was found on the suspect, but no gun has yet been recovered. Police are still looking for the missing suspect. “It’s what we do. From the beginning what we’re taught in boot camp — it’s a part of us,” said Schebesta.

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