MARYSVILLE — A gas station clerk was able to escape an armed robber while he was loaded down with the store’s cash register drawer.
The heist happened in April at a station in the 3300 block of Marine Drive in Marysville. The clerk was breaking down cardboard boxes when a man came through the door with a gun and forced her into a back office.
The robber pressed the gun into the woman’s back and ordered the clerk to the ground, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Edirin Okoloko wrote. The man told the woman he was going to load the store safe in her car and she was going to drive them away.
The clerk told the robber that her boyfriend had the keys to her car. The man became angry and racked a round in the handgun.
The robber got into part of the safe. The clerk was unable to open the top half but told him there was money in the register. The suspect pushed the woman toward the front of the store, grabbed the cash register drawer and headed toward the back of the store.
The clerk noticed that the man had tucked the gun into his waistband. She ran out the front to call for help.
The robber sprinted out the back door, leaving behind the drawer and change box. He kept about $800 in cash.
The woman told police she recognized the man as a customer who drove a gold Saturn. She believed he was acquainted with another employee. Police spoke with that woman, who identified the man as Christopher Joseph Cook. She told them he lived in Granite Falls with his mother.
Police were told that Cook is addicted to heroin.
Deputies stopped Cook, 37, the next day in Granite Falls. He was driving a gold-colored Saturn. He wasn’t arrested while detectives tried to build a case against him, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. At the time there were some questions about his identity, she said.
Ten days after the robbery, the gas station clerk was asked to look at photographs to determine if she could identity the suspect. She reportedly chose a picture of Cook, court papers said.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Cook with first-degree robbery. He still hasn’t been arrested. Instead, he has been ordered to show up in court on Sept. 18 to answer to the charge.
Police say they’ve found text messages sent from Cook’s phone the day after the robbery, asking his friend to lie to police.
“My mom is about to walk in the door so I can’t talk in a minute. But I went there and (expletive) backfired so deny (sic) all. You know nothing,” Cook allegedly wrote in one text.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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