Video: Suspected robbers smash stolen car into Burien gas station

Owners of a gas station and food mart in Burien are cleaning up again after its doors and windows were smashed Wednesday during an attempted smash-and-grab burglary.

Employees said the incident is the second in four days.

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The crime happened at the Mobil gas station on Ambaum Boulevard Southwest near Southwest 126th Street Wednesday morning. The King County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO 7 TV that the SUV used in the crime was a gray or tan 2016 Kia Sorrento that was stolen in Kent.

Surveillance video from the store shows an SUV pull up. Two people then get out and tie a rope to the front door. The SUV then pulls away, breaking the front door, along with a significant portion of the store’s front wall and window.

The owner, Atinder Dahb, says the thieves “backed up the car to the store six times and then they tried to take the Bitcoin machine, but it was too heavy.”

The suspects ultimately walked away empty handed– because the cryptocurrency machine had no cash inside. “You have to put your debit card in,” Dahb says. “They thought it was a cash machine, but we put the ATM [in the back] next to the beer cooler because no one can get in that far.”

Dahb says the burglary was interrupted by a worker, who chased after the Kia in his own car. “He chased them for two or three lights then they shot [at him] and he stopped.” While the employee’s car was struck by a bullet, they were not hurt.

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Dahb said nothing appeared to have been stolen– but he estimates the damage to be around $40,000. And he believes the suspects in this case are the same ones who targeted his store in a smash-and-grab robbery last Saturday. He says police told him “same car, same license plates– Saturday they came in a Kia… same people.”

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line at (206) 296-3311.