HUNTINGTON BEACH : Drug Heist Backed by Apparent Grenade
Police on Monday were seeking a gray-suited robber who demanded drugs from a pharmacist and displayed what looked like a hand grenade.
“I never saw a real hand grenade and I don’t want to know if it was real or not,” said Terry Bottorff, pharmacist and owner of the Druggist, a store on Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach.
Carrying a briefcase, the man entered the store about 10:45 a.m. and put two boxes of condoms on the counter, Bottorff said. He then put down a handwritten list of about a dozen pain-killing drugs that he said he wanted, Bottorff said.
“A lot of them were pretty heavy-duty pain pills that a little drugstore doesn’t stock,” Bottorff said. The man opened his jacket to reveal what looked like a grenade strapped to his waist and then said he had a gun, Bottorff said.
“I gave him 20 to 30 Valiums and 20 to 30 sleeping pills,” Bottorff said. Bottorff said he also put the condoms in the bag.
The man left behind a driver’s license with a Beverly Hills address, which police are investigating.
Huntington Beach police said the man is white and in his early 30s, 5-feet-10 and 180 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
