DENVER MEDICAL-MARIJUANA DISPENSARY ROBBED

A medical marijuana dispensary at 3005 W. Gill Place was robbed at 10:06
a.m. today by two armed men, according to Denver police.

The suspects entered the dispensary and held the owner and an employee at
gunpoint, said Officer Joe Ramirez, spokesman for the Denver Police
Department.

Subsequently, the suspects and the employees got into a fight and multiple
shots were fired, said Ramirez.

The dispensary owner called 911. Police, who responded in force, arrested
an injured suspect inside who had been "detained" by the employees, said
Ramirez. The man was taken to a local hospital.

Ramirez said officers set up a perimeter in an effort to catch the second
suspect who fled and may be suffering from a gunshot wound. Because the
second suspect was armed, canine units and the Metro SWAT team aided the
search.

The perimeter was set up in the area of South Federal Boulevard and West
Alameda Avenue.

Despite more than an hour of searching, police were unable to find the
second suspect.

During the incident, two Denver schools were on full lockdown and five on
partial lockdown, said Kristy Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Denver Public
Schools.

Armstrong said the lockdown was lifted at 11:30 a.m.

Elena Hernandez said her son, husband and daughter, who operate the
dispensary, were in the facility when the men walked in.

She said she talked briefly to her daughter after the attempted robbery.
She said her daughter told her all three employees are OK.