Employees pepper sprayed in Wal-Mart robbery - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

Employees pepper sprayed in Wal-Mart robbery

SPOKANE, Wash. - Three Spokane Valley Wal-Mart employees were doused with pepper spray early Monday when a pair of thieves attempted to steal a flat-screen television and DVD player about 40 minutes after midnight.

The employees told officers that they individually noticed a man and woman pushing a shopping cart toward the eastern-most front doors.  The cart held a 32-inch Emerson TV and a Sony Blu-Ray disk player.

When the cart reached the doors, the unpaid merchandise alarm sounded.  The three employees attempted to stop the thieves, a male and female, but the man turned and began spraying pepper spray into the entryway from a large canister. 

At the same time, an employee in the parking lot noticed a tan Ford Escort or Contour back up to the front doors.  It had a black front fender and "fake" chrome hubcaps, and was driven by a white male.   The male and female theft suspects jumped into the car and it took off westbound on Broadway at a high rate of speed. 

Although none of the employees was seriously injured in the incident, one was hit directly in the face with the spray.  Afterward, employees had to bag the television and DVD player in plastic bags to suppress the pepper spray fumes on them.

The male theft suspect was described as a white male, 19 to 22 years old and about 5'07" to 5'09" tall.  He wore a light blue baseball cap and multi-colored ski jacket.  The female was described as having dirty blond hair and being 5'04" tall and 120 pounds. 

A folding knife was found on the floor where the employees first confronted the two thieves.  It was seized for fingerprint examination.

Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call the Spokane Valley Police at 242-TIPS.