Two men are accused of crashing a reportedly stolen car into a Washougal gun store Saturday and making off with a backpack full of guns.
Karson Carlos, 20, and TK Kinter, 18, appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree burglary, first-degree malicious mischief, possession of a stolen vehicle and 10 counts of theft of a firearm.
Carlos’ bail was set at $200,000, and Kinter’s at $100,000. They’re both scheduled to be arraigned April 10, court records show.
Washougal police responded at 6:31 a.m. to reports of a robbery at Limitless America, 501 26th St. Officers arrived to find a Kia Soul had crashed through the front doors of the store and was stuck inside. No one was at the business at the time, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Several witnesses told police they saw two men in dark clothing run from the store. Store surveillance video showed the Kia initially stopped near the entrance of the building before the driver accelerated. The affidavit states the crash caused more than $500,000 in damage.
On the video, two men, wearing masks and hoods, can be seen exiting the Kia inside the store, then using a chair to break glass cases to grab guns. They can be seen stealing multiple handguns and then running from the store, leaving the car behind, court records state.
Officers also learned the Kia was reported stolen, according to the affidavit.
Police found one handgun on the sidewalk on E Street, a short distance from the store, which officers said the suspects likely dropped as they ran, court records state.
A Clark County sheriff’s deputy spotted two men a few blocks away on Evergreen Way in clothing similar to what the suspects were wearing. They reportedly identified themselves as Carlos and Kinter. They told investigators they’d walked to Washougal from Vancouver the night before to hang out with friends who were homeless in the area, according to court records.
The pair didn’t have any of the guns on them while investigators talked to them, but officers said Carlos had broken glass in his shoes. The men’s shoe prints also matched footprints on the hood of the Kia, which they climbed over while running from the store, the affidavit states.
Investigators searched the area throughout the day and into Sunday. At about 6 p.m. Sunday, the store owner found a backpack stuffed in arborvitae trees not far from where Carlos and Kinter were arrested. Inside, they found a sweatshirt one of the burglars was seen on video to be wearing inside the store. They also recovered nine of the stolen handguns in the backpack, with sales tags from the store still attached, according to court records.
