Customers coming out of pot shops with white bags of weed can be easy targets: criminals know what they have in hand.
This week, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a customer leaving New England Treatment Access with a bag of pot was targeted by a suspect on a bike, according to police.
"Normally, I make sure I zip up everything I have in my backpack before I walk out so nobody really knows where I came from, because a white bag is pretty obvious," said customer Madison Rice.
Still, the crime was surprising.
"It's sad that people are doing stuff like that," said Rice. "It's legal, so why not just go in and get it?"
The 32-year-old victim told police he was followed. Eventually, the man on the bike said, "Give me the weed or I will shoot you."
The suspect, identified as 28-year-old Adrian Thomas, "held his fist clenched as if he was a holding the butt of a small pistol," according to court documents.
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Thomas biked off, saying "You scared, bro," without getting the customer's bag, according to authorities.
Police tracked him down and made the arrest.
"Now, when I walk home, I'll probably just throw it in my pocket," said customer Jon Lustig. "Previously, I've never done that before, but I guess it does make sense to do that."
"There definitely needs to be ample security around because I feel it's so new to the area that having more drugs on the street, and knowing it's coming from this location, specifically, makes people easy targets," said customer Jim Mortenson.
About six weeks ago, a similar crime took place. A customer was robbed of $94 worth of marijuana as he left the same pot shop by a suspect on a bike who got away.
Police say the same man could be responsible.
