Vancouver police identified two teenagers as the suspects in the reported armed robbery of a 13-year-old who was responding to an online advertisement to buy a video game.
Officers were dispatched to a report of a robbery on March 30, according to a Vancouver Police Department press release.
The younger teen met with two men to purchase the video game but was instead robbed at gunpoint, police said. He was uninjured.
An East Precinct Neighborhood Response Team — groups of officers who focus on proactive policing often tied to crime trends — identified the alleged robbers on Wednesday as Devin A. Gonzalez, 19, and Hunter W. Woodley, 18.
The probable cause affidavit filed in Gonzalez’s case says the victim found an Xbox console for $30 on OfferUp.com. The victim told police he handed over $25 for the item and looked up to see Gonzalez pull out a black revolver and raise it toward him, the affidavit says.
Woodley reportedly gave back $5 before the boy ran away, the affidavit says.
Gonzalez and Woodley were arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery, although Woodley was already being housed in Clark County Jail for unrelated charges.
Woodley and an acquaintance stand accused of throwing a broken piece of curbside cement through a window of the Golden Palace restaurant, 4104 W. Main St. in Battle Ground, on March 28, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in that case.
Woodley told an investigating officer they broke the window because they were hungry but never entered the building because of an alarm, the affidavit says.
The police department used the video game incident to remind residents that it offers Safe Exchange Zones at three of its facilities: the administrative building, 605 E. Evergreen Blvd.; West Precinct, 2800 N.E. Stapleton Road; and East Precinct, 512 S.E. 155th Ave.
The zones are a “safer alternative to meeting a stranger in a remote or unfamiliar location. While department staff will not facilitate any transactions, the police facilities are located in populated and well-lit areas. If a buyer or seller is not willing to meet at a police facility this may be a red flag as to the intentions of the individual,” police said.
VPD also shared four tips when meeting someone to buy or sell items:
• Meet during regular business hours whenever possible to increase the opportunity of other people being in the vicinity.
• Avoid meeting in a remote location.
• Avoid meeting at the person’s home or inviting them to your home.
• Bring along a friend.
