A 22-year-old man was arrested Thursday morning after police said he forced a man to drive him around and later robbed an Orchards Chevron at gunpoint.
Vancouver police responded at 5:26 a.m. to the Chevron gas station at 12100 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd., for reports of a robbery.
Investigators determined that at about 12:30 a.m., a 42-year-old man was parked outside of a convenience store in the Vancouver Heights neighborhood when an unknown man approached and asked for a ride. The driver agreed, and when the man got in the car, he displayed a handgun. He forced the victim to drive him around for several hours, before the victim told the suspect he needed to stop for gas, according to a police news release.
When they pulled into the Chevron, the victim got away and hid inside the store, the news release states.
The suspect came inside the Chevron and held the cashier at gunpoint and demanded a car, according to Vancouver police.
A Vancouver police officer “physically engaged with the suspect,” the news release states, and a Washington State Patrol trooper disarmed him. The trooper then arrested the man, police say.
The suspect was taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries and observed because of suspected drug use, according to the police department.
No civilians or law enforcement were seriously injured, the news release states. The incident prompted a large law enforcement response near the North Image neighborhood.
Police are withholding the suspect’s name until he is booked into the Clark County Jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and two counts each of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault and felony harassment.
