Alameda County, California

From the San Leandro Times of September 19, 2005

Suspect Killed in Pot Club Robbery Owner returns fire after six armed men storm store

Six men armed with rifles and handguns robbed a medical marijuana club Friday on Foothill Boulevard and one suspect was shot and killed by the owner.

The robbers broke into the store at about 11:30 a.m. just before it opened. They jumped the fence behind the building and overpowered the owner and one employee, according to Lt. Dale Amaral of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.

“I had just walked in the door. They came over the fence and jumped down off the roof and they were inside just like that,” said the owner whose name is being withheld.

The suspects held the owner and employee on the floor at gun point as their accomplices stuffed money and marijuana into bags. The amount taken employee was knocked to the floor, kicked and hit with the butt of a gun.

Then the robbers turned on the owner and beat him, ordering him to open the safe.

“They had me down, kicking me, and saying ‘Open the f—ing safe!’” he said. The owner, who said he’s still shaken up by the incident, pointed out the hole next to the back door made by a bullet when the suspect fired at him.

The remaining four suspects are being sought by the police. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Detective Godlewski at the Sheriff’s Department at 667-3655.

The cannabis club was burglarized once before, and another cannabis club in Hayward was robbed earlier this month.

(More about the wisdom of locating pot clubs in unincorporated areas)