Armed robbery of Portland smoke shop caught on camera: Owner hits suspect with bag of money

By AMAL ELHELW

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Portland police are still looking for the suspect in an armed robbery that took place at a smoke shop in southeast Portland on Thursday night.

The owner of that shop, who caught it all on camera, said the experience was both terrifying and surreal.

Brian Graham has been in business at ‘Still Smokin’ Glass and Tobacco’ for nearly two decades. However, he said this week’s armed robbery was not his first.

“I’ve been through this a couple times, and both times I fought the perpetrator, I don’t know why. It’s not smart but I always do. I work hard for my money, I don’t want to give it away,” Graham said. “Last night, this guy came in and he was acting like a regular customer. Came in, asked for a pack of smokes and a Bic light and actually picked out the color even and I was like ‘Ok’ and then all the sudden he’s brandishing his gun and said ‘And I’ll take all your money too.’”

After noticing the man had a gun, Graham fled from behind the counter and grabbed a bank bag full of cash while the suspect took everything in the register. In the surveillance video, Graham is seen hitting the suspect with the bank bag.

“In the moment you don’t think,” Graham said. “It’s so surreal so I think I was going to try to stop him but my hands were full. I don’t know what I was thinking but he had a gun.”

The smoke shop owner said he wishes he did more to stop the robber.

“I wish I had a cooler head and I could stop and think of what to do, I would change things but when you have a gun in your face, you just run it I guess,” Graham said.

Once police arrived on scene, a shelter-in-place order was put into effect, locking down the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood as police searched for the armed suspect.

“I was still trying to conduct business but they were like ‘You need to shut this place down, it’s a crime scene,’” Graham said.

At one point, officers thought they spotted the suspect near Southeast 136th Avenue and Powell Boulevard. There was a short chase before the driver crashed into two other vehicles and ran off into a neighborhood.

However, after further investigation, authorities said the robbery suspect’s description did not match the driver of the car. The search for both suspects is ongoing.

As for Graham and his team, he said it’s back to business as usual, but he said they won’t be able to feel safe at work until they know the suspect is caught and behind bars.

“I just want him caught,” Graham said. My employees are scared, and I don’t want my employees to be scared. They’re really scared.”

Portland police said the investigation is ongoing.

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