Armed robbers terrorize marijuana shop employee

EVERETT, Wash. -- A pair of robbers terrorized a medical marijuana store employee holding him at gunpoint. The crooks made off with thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise.

It happened at the Patient Care 99 medical dispensary along Highway 99 south of Everett Tuesday evening.

Nickolaii Matveev was the only employee working at the time. The crooks struck only a few minutes before closing time.

“It’s really hard to actually be here right now,” he said.

At first the crooks were polite, waiting their turn in the lobby, but then one of them pulled a gun.

“The black guy came in with the gun told me to give me everything,” Matveev said.

In a flash, the gunman pushed Nickolaii to the floor while the other robber searched the office. Once they found a box the crooks helped themselves to high-grade, medical pot.

“He put the gun to my head and told me if I moved that I’d blow your head off,” said Matveev.

Once their boxes were full the thieves took off and Nickolaii called the cops.  Canine officers lost their tracks but cops recovered some of the stolen loot.

Employees are still shaken up.

“Sheer terror, I was scared,” said Matveev. “I didn’t know what to do or say.”

“No one should have to go through that,” said employee Christopher Vincent. “It was a really traumatic experience.”

The suspects didn’t bother hiding their faces – or their tattoos.

The store’s owner hopes someone knows who these crooks are and turns them in to police.

“It’s very upsetting. I feel very violated,” said owner Ryan Johnson.

The thieves also stole all the money out of Nickolaii’s tip jar.

Cops have a copy of the surveillance video and detectives are investigating.

Johnson is offering a $1,000 reward for information that ends in an arrest; call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office with any leads.