Best Buds is now resident in the space formally home to El Portal Coffee (Image: Best Buds)

Police swarmed the area around the 2300 block of E Madison after a reported armed robbery Tuesday night at the Best Buds medical marijuana dispensary.

According to police radio, the suspect held up the dispensary armed with a silver handgun before fleeing around 9:44 PM. Police weren’t called to the address until just before 10 PM.

Police were searching for a suspect described as a black male in his 20s, wearing a camo fisherman’s hat, black t-shirt, and khaki pants. UPDATE: Unconfirmed by police, but overnight radio dispatches described the suspect as someone known to the dispensary. We do not yet know if there has been an arrest. UPDATE x2: Best Buds owner Jiovani McKelvy tells CHS the suspect had repeatedly attempted to enter the dispensary on Monday and Tuesday and may have been casing the facility. The suspect was denied access, McKelvy said, because he did not have a medical marijuana card. Tuesday night, he entered the dispensary and stole nine pounds of pot and $1,000 in cash, McKelvy said. McKelvy is hopeful for an arrest — and the return of the marijuana. “They told me I’ll get it back if he’s arrested,” McKelvy said. The dispensary operator said he’s confident police will be able to find the suspect because the robbery and clear images of the suspect were caught on video.

We don’t know yet what the suspect was able to steal in the hold-up. There were no reported injuries.

The robbery comes as legislators in Olympia debate the future of medical marijuana as highly regulated and highly secure I-502 retail shops increase in numbers around the state.