The same modus operandi that had worked three times before from West Seattle to Capitol Hill to downtown failed on a fourth try Tuesday morning on 4th Avenue when a man claiming to have a weapon tried to rob a busy pharmacy but was wrestled into submission by employees and customers. Details on the man’s arrest are below.

In the Capitol Hill incident, a man who implied he was carrying a gun held up the Bartell’s pharmacy on the Harvard Market’s second level on the morning of Tuesday, November 30th and made off with a bag full of methadone pills, according to police radio broadcasts.

Here are the details of Tuesday’s arrest from SPD:

Since early October, a lone male suspect was believed to be responsible for a series of pharmacy robberies.  The first two occurred at a chain pharmacy at locations in West Seattle and on Capitol Hill.   The most recent occurred downtown on December 14th, in the 800 block of 3rd Avenue.  The suspect would usually imply a weapon and demand prescription drugs.

Today, December 21st, at approximately 11:40 a.m., a lone male suspect attempted to rob a pharmacy located in the 900 block of 4th Avenue.  The suspect approached the pharmacist, demanded narcotics, and implied by his actions that he had a weapon.  Several employees and customers confronted the suspect.  The suspect pulled a folding knife out of his pocket, but did not open it, at which point the employees and citizens grabbed and restrained him.  The suspect broke free and attempted to flee but fell down at which point he was tackled by the employees and customers.  Responding officers arrived and took him into custody.  The officers recovered a folding knife from the suspect.

Robbery detectives responded and processed the scene.  The 33-year-old male suspect was interviewed by detectives and confessed to several recent robberies.  He was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.  This remains an on-going robbery investigation.