ARMED ROBBERS HOLD UP VALLEJO POT DISPENSARY AFTER PURSUIT

Suspects, one from Richmond, arrested; guns seized

Two men robbed a medical marijuana dispensary on Marin Street at
gunpoint Friday morning, resulting in a widespread chase for them in
downtown streets and alleys. Both suspects have been arrested.

Numerous Vallejo police and Solano Sheriff's deputies responded to the
10:10 a.m. armed robbery and some streets were briefly blocked off as
officers chased after the two young men.

Vallejo Police Corp. Stanley Eng, who ran after one suspect, arrested
him in the south alley behind Virginia Street and Sonoma Boulevard,
Lt. Jim O'Connell said.

The other suspect got away, O'Connell said. However, a few hours later
police found him hiding in a car on Capitol Street near Sonoma
Boulevard, he said.

Police arrested Larry Bowie, 21, of Richmond; and Rashad Gaines, 20,
of Vallejo on suspicion of armed robbery and other charges related to
possession of firearms, O'Connell said.

The business, in the 700 block of Marin, is called Greenwell
Cooperative and has a large sign in the window saying it was "Voted
Best Alternative Medicine Dispensary in Solano County" through the
Times-Herald's Best of 2010 contest.

Dispensary employees and volunteers on scene during the armed robbery
declined to talk to reporters. Apparently the business had not yet
opened when the robbery occurred.

"We have no comment about anything," one man said.

O'Connell said the two suspects were after cash and marijuana, but
they fled the business without taking anything "because they were
advised the police were present or nearby. They fled in an effort to
escape." Police recovered two handguns, plus two black hooded
sweatshirts, also known as hoodies, near where the first suspect was
arrested.

As police escorted the young man out of a police car for a witness to
identify, a woman leaning out of her apartment's second floor window
yelled, "Shame on you. You're just a little kid."

She later also yelled, "You've wasted your life."

The suspect would not give his name to police officers and had no
identification on him, but did say he was from Richmond, O'Connell
said.

"He's a Richmond resident and he thought he could get away with that
coming to Vallejo," quipped one police officer.