Man arrested for shooting into WA mall, stealing sneakers

WA mall burglary suspect arrested

A suspected burglary accused of shooting his way into a store at a local mall to steal high-end kicks appeared in court on Thursday.

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. - Police arrested a man who shot his way into the front doors of Alderwood Mall to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of sneakers last January. Authorities say he admitted to burglaries at multiple other malls in the Puget Sound region.

According to the Lynnwood Police Department (LPD), the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force arrested Micah Snyder at a Pierce County apartment Wednesday night.

Authorities say they recovered an AR-10 style rifle from his vehicle, and that he admitted to burglarizing the Alderwood Mall, the Southcenter Mall twice, the South Hill Mall and the Tacoma Mall.

What's next:

The LPD says Snyder will appear in Snohomish County court Thursday afternoon.

Thief shoots out WA mall's front doors to steal $16K in sneakers

The backstory:

Last January, Lynnwood police began looking for a thief, later identified as Micah Snyder, for shooting through the front doors of the Alderwood Mall to break into Sneak City to steal designer sneakers.

FOX 13 Seattle obtained surveillance video of the incident, which shows the suspect firing multiple shots at the glass door, grabbing a handful of shoes and running out the front door in a manner of minutes.

RAW: Thief shoots his way into Alderwood Mall to steal sneakers

"The whole time he’s in the store you can see the handgun in his hand as he’s running around the store. So, I’m glad nobody was hurt because who knows what would have happened if somebody was here during the time," said Anastasia Lemley, co-owner of Sneak City.

Lemley told FOX 13 that the thief got away with three pairs of shoes: one worth $9,000, another worth $6,000, and the last one worth $1,000.

Police arrested a man who shot his way into the front doors of Alderwood Mall to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of sneakers last January. Authorities say he admitted to burglaries at multiple other malls I the Puget Sound region. According to the Lynnwood Police Department (LPD), the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force arrested Micah Snyder at a Pierce County apartment Wednesday night. Authorities say they recovered an AR-10 style rifle from his vehicle, and that he admitted to burglarizing the Alderwood Mall, the Southcenter Mall twice, the South Hill Mall and the Tacoma Mall.

FOX 13 Reporter AJ Janavel spoke to several other local business owners, who believe the gunman is a repeat offender.

What they're saying:

"This guy has just been on rampage just going pretty much all throughout Seattle, all throughout all the sneaker stores around," said Gus Hohlbein co-owner of Lucky Dog.

Hohlbein told FOX 13 Seattle he believed the same guy who broke into Sneak City tried to burglarize his shop a few weeks prior.

During the break-in, Lucky Dog’s camera captured video of the thief without a mask on, and Hohlbein said he recognized him as a customer because of his glasses.