Downtown Seattle store employees had a sense guy was a shoplifter

It wasn’t the odor of the customer with the gym bag that got the attention of employees at the downtown Seattle Abercrombie & Fitch store. They had seen the man before and suspected him of shoplifting, so they kept an eye on him Tuesday night.

When the guy put some cologne into his gym bag and headed for the door, employees confronted him and asked if he planned to pay for it.

“That’s when he pulled out a knife, he brandished it at the employees, the employees did the right thing, they backed off, they let him go. They called 911 immediately,” said police detective Mark Jamieson.

Officers dispatched to the store at 4th and Pine and caught up with the guy a few blocks away.

“He was positively identified by witnesses and subsequently arrested,” said Jamieson. Because he used a deadly weapon he was booked for investigation of robbery.