Alleged driver in fatal shoplifting getaway held

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Sedro-Woolley police have arrested a 19-year-old man who they say drove the car that fatally hit a convenience store owner as she tried to stop a shoplifter.

Sgt. Dan McIlraith said police are holding Matthew John Tobin of Mount Vernon in jail for investigation of robbery and felony hit-and-run.

The sergeant said police are still looking for the shoplifting suspect, who is accused of stealing a beer Thursday night from the James Market in Sedro-Woolley.

Sedro-Woolley is southeast of Bellingham.

The co-owner of the market and her nephew ran after the shoplifter, but he jumped into a waiting SUV, McIlraith said. When the vehicle took off, it hit the nephew and dragged him, causing minor injuries. But it also struck and killed the owner, identified by the Skagit Valley Herald as Yongmin Pak.

In November 2010, Pak was hit by a vehicle while trying to stop a person who was stealing from the store, police said. She broke a leg in that incident, police said.

Tobin, who was arrested early Saturday, could not be reached at the jail. An official there said he did not believe Tobin had a lawyer yet. He said that would not happen until Monday.

Attempts to find contact information for Tobin’s family were not successful.

After the media released surveillance-camera video from inside the convenience store, they were contacted by a female juvenile who said she was in the vehicle when the incident happened, McIlraith said.