Here’s why so many police swarmed outer East Portland on July 1st, including the Argay Terrace neighborhood, looking for suspects …
Outside the Brooklyn Pharmacy, Portland Police cars are parked as officers investigate the daylight armed robbery of a patron.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
After picking up prescriptions at Brooklyn Pharmacy located on S.E. Milwaukie Avenue near Powell Boulevard, just south of the Aladdin Theater, a customer was confronted by robbers on July 1, 2016, at about 6:15 p.m.
“Officers spoke to the victim, and learned that the suspect implied that he had a gun, as he robbed the victim of a phone, cash, and prescription drugs,” reported Portland Police Bureau Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson.
Inside Brooklyn Pharmacy, officers speak with the robbery victim as they begin their investigation.
Simpson described the suspects as African American males, 16 to 22 years old, 6’0″ to 6’2″, with medium builds.
There were two officers inside the pharmacy, speaking with the victim – but we observed that no other police units seemed to be canvassing the area. Instead, we learned they had all raced eastward.
Along NE Shaver Street, an officer asks a resident if he’s seen the robbery suspects running through the neighborhood.
Based on information that police were now searching for the robbers in outer East Portland, reporters headed for the Parkrose area.
As many as 26 police units were concentrated in the outer East Portland neighborhood of Argay Terrace, just east of Parkrose.
A number of officers were scattered along NE Shaver Street, a residential road that parallels Sandy Boulevard.
Ten blocks east of a cell-phone locater’s “ping”, at Images Columbia apartments, many officers gather to look for two reportedly-armed robbers.
In that area, Simpson told reporters, “[Central Precinct] Officers in Brooklyn worked with the victim to trace the phone to the area of NE 125th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. A possible suspect was spotted running into the neighborhood.”
Although officers, including a K-9 Unit, searched the area, officers apparently came up empty-handed.
Officers stay on the lookout for two men they suspect of robbing a pharmacy patron 100 blocks to the west of this location.
The investigation continues, and anyone with non-emergency information about this case should contact Robbery detectives at 503-823-0405.
© 2016 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News
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