Muchas Gracias eatery robbed at gunpoint

Vancouver police are investigating a robbery that occurred early Saturday at the Muchas Gracias fast-food restaurant at 5207 E. Mill Plain Blvd.

According to a police news release, officers were called to the scene at 3:03 a.m. after a report that a robbery had just occurred. Witnesses said an unknown subject came into the restaurant and pointed a firearm at an employee and demanded money.

He was given an undisclosed amount of money. The subject then fled on foot after telling a customer, who had come in just prior to him, “Let’s go,” police said.

The area was searched and a police dog track attempted. No suspects were located.

The armed suspect is described as a black male, 23-24 years old, 6 feet tall, average build, medium voice with no impediments, wearing a navy blue, zip-up hooded sweatshirt with the hood down. He wore a bandana over his face. The customer was only described as a tall white male, about 19 years old.

Anyone with information should call 911.

A 47-year-old Vancouver man was beaten and robbed near Clark College before daylight Saturday, according to Vancouver police.

The incident occurred at 5:20 a.m. near the intersection of McLoughlin Boulevard and Fort Vancouver Way. Jeffery Jentsch told police he was walking to work when he was accosted by two men.

The men pushed Jentsch, then punched him several times in the face. They stole his wallet and car keys and fled on foot.

Jentsch kept walking until he was seen by a citizen who lives on East Reserve Street. After Jentsch told him about the robbery, the citizen called police.

Jentsch was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center, where he was treated for his injuries.

Police found his keys at the crime scene and returned them.

No further suspect description was available.

Four vehicles and a carport were destroyed early Saturday in a fire at Carriage House Apartments, 4714 N.E. 72nd Ave.

The fire was reported at 2:38 a.m., said Capt. Kevin Murray of the Vancouver Fire Department. When firefighters and police arrived, they found that the carport and the vehicles were engulfed.

A witness told police he happened to look out the window and notice flames, according to a police news release. He went to investigate and discovered another tenant trying to move a car out of danger.

He moved it for the tenant and then he and another person attempted to put the fire out with extinguishers but were unsuccessful. They then called 911. One of the men suffered a minor cut on his hand while breaking some glass to reach the fire extinguishers.

Murray said the vehicles were a 2006 Ford Mustang, a 2000 Honda Accord, a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix, and a John Deere Gator, a four-wheel motorized cart that was used as a maintenance vehicle by the apartment managers. All were destroyed.

The damage totaled $40,000, Murray said.

No cause for the fire has been established.