EVERETT — Two teens who allegedly tried to shoplift booze in June from an Everett Safeway while armed with a pellet gun are now facing felony robbery charges.
One boy, 17, was on probation at the time for stealing alcohol from Target and assaulting the store security guards who tried to stop him. His buddy, 18, also has prior convictions, including breaking into a school while he was drunk.
This is the first time the teens face adult felony charges. If convicted, a first-degree robbery charge is a strike under the state’s persistent offender law. Both teens were being held on $50,000 bail.
The robbery happened June 27 outside the Safeway in the 11000 block of 19th Avenue SE in south Everett. Grocery stores, such as Safeway, began selling hard alcohol in 2012 after voters approved privatization of liquor sales.
The store manager told police that while monitoring security cameras he saw two young men take three bottles of alcohol off a shelf and hide them in their clothes. The suspects, later identified as William Broady and Malachi Morrissey, tried to leave the store without paying, court papers said.
The store manager stopped the teens before they left, extending his arms in an attempt to block their exit. Broady reportedly said “don’t make me shoot you, fool.” Morrissey allegedly shoved the manager out of the way and the teens left. The manager followed the two outside and told them to stop. Broady allegedly turned to face the man and was holding what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun.
The manager, fearing he was going to be shot, backed off and called 911. Broady reportedly dropped the gun, then picked it up. He and Morrissey ran off.
Everett police officers already were in the area and chased after the teens. The officers found three bottles of liquor and a pellet gun near where they caught the suspects, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson wrote in charging papers. The store manager identified the two as the teens who shoplifted the booze and pulled a gun on him.
A week before the incident, a judge ordered Morrissey’s arrest for failing to comply with probation. Morrissey pleaded guilty in May in juvenile court to theft and assault. That conviction stemmed from an incident in January at the Target in Everett. Morrissey hid alcohol in his clothes and then fought with security officers who tried to stop him from leaving the store with the booze. At the time of that incident Morrissey had a warrant for his arrest in connection with a theft case from August 2013.
Morrissey grabbed a man’s cell phone as he was getting off a bus and ran off. Police caught up with him and found the phone in his shorts.
Broady also has numerous criminal convictions. He spent nearly a year in juvenile lock up for a burglary in 2012. About two months after being released he broke into Highland Christian School and broke out windows.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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