LAPD investigating third shooting at a medical marijuana dispensary

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating a robbery at a Northridge marijuana dispensary over the weekend that left an employee in critical condition after he was shot in the face.

The shooting took place shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday at the dispensary in the 8900 block of Reseda Boulevard, police said. The victim was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and was listed in critical condition.

The suspects, who were not immediately identified, made off with approximately $11,000 in cash, police said.

The shooting was the third at a medical marijuana dispensaries over a three-day period last week. Two people were fatally shot Thursday and a third man was wounded in pot shop robberies in Echo Park and Hollywood.

It was at least the second time this year that the Northridge dispensary was targeted. Two suspects are awaiting trial in connection with a shooting that left a 33-year-old clinic employee wounded during an attempt to rob the man of his wallet.

Officials did not release the name of the man who was wounded Saturday.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they did not believe there was any connection between the San Fernando Valley case and the two attempted robberies in Los Angeles, which occurred hours apart.

"We have no evidence to believe that the three [robberies] are connected," said Kevin McClure, the captain in charge of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division. "But do I think it's a disturbing pattern based on what it is, absolultely."

The robbery at the medical marijuana clinic on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park left one worker wounded and another dead. The dead man was identified as Matthew Benjamin Butcher, 27, of Los Angeles, the son of labor leader Julie Butcher. Officials said the store was ransacked. 

The second incident occurred at 9:15 p.m. a few miles away on El Centro Avenue in Hollywood when an unknown number of suspects stormed into the shop. The dead man was later identified as Ila Ali Packman, 39, of Hollywood.

The killings coincided with a city crackdown on pot businesses that has resulted in the closure of dozens of the outlets.

The City Attorney's office recently notified about 400 marijuana dispensaries that they must shut down if they do not meet location restrictions outlined in a new ordinance that took effect this month. The dispensaries were given six months to comply with the law, but many have already closed.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said last week that authorities shouldn't rule out a link between the robberies and slayings at the pot clinics and drug cartels.

"There's a matter for us having to be on full alert as to what the reasons were for such brutal murders," he said. "It's one thing to go in and put a gun in the face of a person who is running a commercial establishment and ask him for the money. It's a totally different thing by assassinating the person that you're robbing. That, to me, is very cartel-ish in its style."

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[oldusedcop]

Sheriff Baca says "very cartel-ish in style". That should be food for thought. We know very well that cartels from Mexico have operatives in the United States. This could get very nasty.

[mindee]

Trutanich doing the bidding of his boss/ recruiter Republican Attorney Candidate Steve Cooley, got this city to pass a pot ordinance so restrictive that it forbids shops from allowing their security to be armed with guns or even tasers. They've long compared they're sitting ducks. Even regular stores allow their security guards to be armed subject to appropriate permits - this is just dumb.

Trutanich/ Cooley's law also insists that ALL cash transactions involved in pot shops are illegal - that patients must grown and exchange their own plants. That is even dumber - how do they think shops will pay rent or utilities, or staff like these unfortunate victims who just needed a job, and believed what they were doing helps sick people, and is better than highly addictive drugs like morphine which are legal.

Trutanich/ Cooley forbid the shops from using credit cards or checks, which would cut down on amount of cash available to rob and actually make it EASIER to trace patients in case of problems. Because Trutanich/ Cooley say there should be no money either - but of course there IS, again, stupid.

Also the ordinance Trutanich/ Cooley got the City Council to pass, over the strong objections of a few most familiar with the situation, restricts shops from re-opening in at least 95% of the city. There will be very few shops which will charge a lot more for their pot - subject to the law of supply and demand - with more cash on hand, while drug cartels know their guards are unarmed.

Baca notes this is typical of the work of drug cartels, but he and Cooley and their tool Trutanich can't put 2 + 2 together. Republicans who pander to their constituency for an election and their ambition endanger us all.

[wayneflo]

It is cannabis prohibition that causes the violence, not cannabis use.

Cannabis dispensaries are a target of criminals because it is mostly a cash business and the cannabis is very valuable. Both problems are caused by prohibition. Legal cannabis will be so cheap it will not be worth stealing. It is just a weed with taxes.

Legalization will remove the criminals from cannabis businesses and put it in a regulated market only for adults.

The easiest way to destroy the street gangs and drug cartels is take away their income. Cannabis delivers big money to cartels and gangs. They grow it cheap and make huge profits on high prices. Legalizing cannabis will take over 60% of their income away.

[surfdogh2o]

This endless war on drugs just gets worse every day!

[surfdogh2o]

The only way to destroy the cartels is to legalize pot. And then tax it to get the state out of its financial hole. The endless war on drugs is futile and wasteful. If people want to spend their lives stoned out of their gourds, they should have that right. Why don't we set aside a federal reservation and give all addicts free room, board, and drugs there. I bet we would save a ton of money compared to what we spend on prisons and rehab now!

[George Washington]

What did the LA City Council expect when they wouldn't allow armed security?

I smell a rat... I think this COULD be an attempt to make these places seem more dangerous than they are.

Even bars have bouncers. The City Council doesn't seem to care for the health of its' citizens or their safety apparently.

[PMA]

Some of these so-called "medical" marijuana stores are nothing more than fronts for drug cartels. Why do you think they are resisting the new regulations so strongly? They don't want anyone checking their books and finding their connections to gangs and drug mafias.

[Los Claus]

"Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they did not believe there was any connection between the San Fernando Valley case and the two attempted robberies in Los Angeles" Terrific...there's more than one gang of these nut bags running around.

[Joe Shea]

It just goes to show that the last thing the drug cartels want is legal marijuana - or other drugs, for that matter. The prohibition approach keeps them in business.

[patrick]

$11,000 is an awful lot of cash to have on hand in a small retail establishment. Are these all cash businesses or do they take credit cards?

[PDR]

I agree with oldusedcop. Organized crime may be trying to push "mom-and-pop" dispensery owners out in anticipation of full legalization. Maybe Costco will sell it by the bushel?

[J]

All the more reason to legalize it. These problems evaporate overnight when people can grow their own. Once legal, the wholesale prices will collapse making it not worth the effort of the cartels.

[Dr.Pikens]

I agree with Sheriff Lee Baca about cartel related violence and wonder if they are relocating to the Los Angeles area due to Arizona's recent crack down and if so are they attempting to run the LA based legal cannabis clubs out of business.

[CA Moderate]

Cartels do not want the competition and want to keep it illegal by using scare tactics. The only soultion is to legalize cannabis in November and let the cartels ply their cocaine and meth trade.

[JourneyHealingCenters]

Many don't realize that since the legalization of marijuana in the Netherlands, crime has actually gone up. While Journey Healing Centers (drug and alcohol rehab centers) supports giving critically ill patients medical marijuana, the legalization risks outweigh the benefits. We're concerned about the long-term health risks, including increased substance abuse, relapses and addictions to harder drugs. Journey Healing Centers opposes the Arizona Medical Marijuana Proposition and California's Proposition to legalize marijuana for 21+ on Nov ballots. If you have any drug or alcohol addiction questions, call our Free 24-Hour Hotline to speak with an Addiction Specialist: 1-866-774-5119

[My opinon means nothing]

I wonder how many pot dispenseries have been robbed? Maybe we just haven't heard about it. It doesn't surprise me, as this goes right along with the industry and making it legal isn't gong to change anything.

[johnjasonchundotcom]

Fast way to close all the "ILLEGAL POT SELLERS"...

[Perspective]

Liberals ought to be cheering. You get everything you wish for here:
More influence for gangs composed of oppressed peoples such as MS-13, anonymity for criminals, and the fruits of lenient policies and sentencing.

If gangs and criminal associations were treated firmly, by carefully ascertaining who their membership is, cross-confirming that by different, independent groups and then executing ALL members and associates of said groups, such incidents would be about one in ten years rather than one in ten days. But that would be an imposition on your beloved "oppressed" criminals and make life to comfortable for the average Joe Working Sucker you despise, who can't just move to a fancier neighborhood.

Re mindee @12:15:
I'm not familiar with these details; as an outsider it's hard to believe that the shops are not allowed normal business practices and security. If so, the county has passed a pro-criminal ordinance and is directly responsible for these crimes. Anyone promulgating such laws is not a pro-business conservative, they're a pro-gang pro-criminal front.

" Cooley and their tool Trutanich can't put 2 + 2 together."
If they really enacted the rules you cite then they already did and this is the result they wanted. Some politicians, liberal and conservative, have always been pro-crime. Crime is very useful politically and when it dies down some pols lose their leverage.

[nemo]

So much for the theory that legalizing drugs will eliminate the violence associated with criminalizing it.

Keep it up California... you too can become another failed Narco-Terrorist State, like Mexico.

[K.E.]

@wayneflo:
re: "It is cannabis prohibition that causes the violence, not cannabis use....

Legalization will remove the criminals from cannabis businesses and put it in a regulated market only for adults."

You're dreaming, buddy. Ask any underage kid who drinks. And smokes weed. And cigarettes.

Pot is practically legal NOW, and the price is high due to DEMAND. Smokers have all the supply they could possibly ask for. Finding weed is never a problem, whether you're 14 or 40.

The problem is DEMAND. What is so wrong with life that people need to check out all the time? Drinking and smoking are COPING MECHANISMS - and bad ones, at that.

No pot shops in my 'hood, thank you.

[PMA]

To My Opinion Means Nothing:

There have been hundreds of armed robberies at pot stores in Los Angeles. The LA Times usually doesn't cover this, but people who live near the pot stores have become well aware of the crime magnets they are. This is also not the first murder at a pot store. There was a murder at a pot store in the Miracle Mile area a little over a year ago. A security guard was shot to death on his first day on the job. And, these are only the crimes we know about. A lot of robberies at pot stores are never reported to the police - because the pot store owners are connected to criminal gangs or cartels, and don't want the police coming around.

[J. Galt]

Trutanich and Steve Cooley are idiots for creating this situation of unarmed sitting ducks...

They should receive the same protections as they mandate.

[sls]

Just like Prohibition there is this. History repeating itself.

Add in the "Los Angeles Factor in the mix" and of course: Pot Dispensaries at two in the afternoon is better to rob than a 7-11 at 2am because lets face it: 7-11's are legal and somewhat patrolled. Plus, you can't identify who just got shot if you are in the place getting weed for your glaucoma.

History repeating itself. Great god. Just legalize the stuff.

[iHerbit]

Pot Nazi"s unfairly target All american citizens. With the exception of politicians who actually bankroll the drugs coming into the country.

[freddy please]

@Mindee...the dispensary I go to has an armed guard at the counter where you sign in with your ID. Please dont spread false information.