Vancouver police officers on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of striking an employee with a shotgun during a December robbery at a Vancouver gas station.
Michael Dashawn Stevenson, 20, made his first appearance in court Thursday, after officers arrested him on suspicion of first-degree robbery in connection with an armed robbery at a gas station convenience store Dec. 12.
Officers were called to the Quick Shop Minit Mart and Shell station, at 1910 W. Fourth Plain Blvd., shortly after 8:30 p.m., after a report of an armed robbery.
According to an officer’s probable cause affidavit filed in court, James Bono was working at the store when three masked men entered the store. One masked man — wearing red pants and a black, long-sleeved sweatshirt with a red emblem — carried what looked like a sawed-off shotgun.
The second had a Guy Fawkes mask, and the third wore a letterman-style jacket along with his mask, according to court records.
The shotgun-toting man approached Bono and demanded he empty the register. While Bono was at the register, the man struck Bono on the side of the head with the gun’s barrel, according to court records.
The man grabbed the money and stuffed it into a duffle bag while the robber in the letterman jacket snatched multiple packs of Newport cigarettes, the records said.
The three fled the convenience store with $900 in cash and 60 packs of cigarettes, according to court records. The robbery was captured on store surveillance video.
Later that night, another robbery was reported in the parking lot of the Elmer’s Restaurant at 11316 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd.
According to court records, Stevenson drove his sedan to the store’s parking lot around 11:30 p.m. Once parked, another man, carrying a shotgun and wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, like the one worn in the Shell station robbery, hopped out of the car.
The masked man robbed at gunpoint an occupant of another vehicle in the parking lot, got back in the car then left. Surveillance video recorded the car as it parked, and the masked man, court records said.
On Jan. 22, officers searched Stevenson’s home in the Hazel Dell area and found clothing — a sweatshirt with a red emblem and red pants — that matched that of the man who struck Bono in the gas station robbery, the records said.
When questioned, Stevenson admitted only to driving the suspect in the Guy Fawkes mask, according to court records, and he was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery.
Officers contacted Stevenson’s girlfriend the next day. She told them she was in the front seat of the vehicle during the Elmer’s robbery, and she said Stevenson was driving.
An analysis of her phone found a photograph including two men: One wore clothes matching the man in the Guy Fawkes mask in both robberies, and the other had red pants and black sweatshirt matching those worn by the man with the shotgun at the gas station.
The timestamp on the photo showed it was taken about two hours before the Minit Mart robbery, according to court records.
The girlfriend identified one of them, in the red pants, as Stevenson, court records said, and she said he didn’t change clothes during that time. Stevenson, when questioned again, denied being at the gas station.
Stevenson was being held on $200,000 bail. His arraignment, where he’ll be formally charged in the Minit Mart robbery, was set for March 2.
Stevenson is also accused of first-degree robbery and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the Elmer’s parking lot robbery. That case is pending.
