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Surprise! Video shows officers waiting for Costco thieves outside emergency exit doors

Posted at 9:44 AM, Mar 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-19 15:59:32-04

SEATTLE (KGTV) -- Newly released body camera footage shows the moment police officers nabbed a pair of thieves trying to walk out of a Seattle-area Costco carrying $2,200 worth of laptops and vacuums.

On March 14, South Precinct officers responded to a call at about 5:30 p.m. of a shoplift in progress at the Costco, police said. Loss Prevention officers inside the store recognized one of the suspects inside and said he had previously stolen items in the past and run out the fire exit. 

Responding Seattle Police Department officers spotted a female driver inside a black Toyota that was backed up to the store's emergency exit doors.  The officers pulled their patrol vehicle in front of the Toyota to prevent it from leaving and contacted the 18-year-old woman, police said.

As police were talking with the woman, they could hear someone attempting to open the doors.

"Moments later, two suspects, a 30-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman opened the emergency doors and attempted to walk out of the store carrying stolen computers and vacuum cleaners," police said.

Officers located a 7″ fixed blade from the male suspect. According to the security personnel, the suspect had carried a large knife in past incidents.

The male suspect was later booked into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery, while the two women were booked for investigation of theft, police said.