Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Suspect sought in Thursday bank robbery

Editor’s note: The Police Blotter is written based on information in Gig Harbor Police reports.

Police are searching for a man who robbed a Gig Harbor bank Thursday afternoon.

At 1:57 p.m., the man walked into a credit union in the 4500 block of Point Fosdick Drive and passed a teller a note, said Gig Harbor Police Lt. Fred Douglas. He didn’t indicate that he had a weapon. He took money and left the building.

The suspect is described as White, about 6 feet tall with a thin build, blonde hair, and in his early 20s.

In late March, a bank just up the street was robbed. Gig Harbor Police later arrested a 27-year-old man who was also suspected of robbing several other Pierce County banks.

Suspected shoplifter forgot drugs in shopping basket

A Wilco manager called police on June 24 to report a man possibly hiding items in his jacket and leaving the farm store on Hunt Street. An officer responded, found the suspect and determined that no theft had occurred.

Half an hour later, the manager called back to say he found the shopping basket that the suspect had used and it contained a daily medication container. In it was a baggie with several blue pills.

The officer returned and took the pill box, which was determined to hold 17 fentanyl tablets, for evidence. The suspect called the store looking for his “medicine,” but when told that police had been contacted, he hung up.

Fentanyl is a powerful, synthetic opioid that has been blamed for an increase in fatal overdoses.

Something doesn’t smell right

Police were dispatched to Ultra Beauty cosmetics and fragrance store in Olympic Village Shopping Center June 21 for a shoplift in progress. An employee reported that a white woman in a tan shirt and light blue jeans was concealing items in a bag.

The suspect left the store and climbed into a red car. An officer arrived, spotted her and activated the cruiser’s emergency lights. The woman took off, raced around a car and blew a stop sign in the parking lot. Blocked by cars waiting to enter Olympic Drive, she shot past them and got on Highway 16. Officers didn’t chase her.

Witnesses told police that they watched the woman place perfume in a bag. After staff members confronted her, she gave one bottle back. She then left the store and dropped two other bottles in the parking lot.

Officers were able to get a still photo of the suspect and security video of the incident.

Pistols stolen from car at apartment

Officers contacted a woman on June 27 about a vehicle prowl. The woman said that overnight somebody got into her car parked in front of her apartment on 34th Avenue Court. She said early that afternoon she found that the glove compartment was open and had been rifled through.

Two pistols that were under the seat, a Glock and Smith & Wesson, had been taken. She was the registered owner of both. They were not loaded ,and no ammo or magazines were in the car. Officers took the serial numbers and entered them as stolen.