Demar Antione Lacy Jr.,

Demar Antione Lacy Jr.,

A man and two juveniles targeted East Idaho Walgreens pharmacies on Friday, robbing one and entering three others before being arrested following a high-speed chase, police said.

Demar Antione Lacy Jr., 22, of California, and two juvenile male suspects, also from California, were taken into custody around 12:25 p.m. in Fort Hall following the high-speed pursuit that started in Bingham County, authorities said.

In Bingham County, Lacy faces two counts of felony injury to a child, eluding police and obstructing or resisting following the incident. Additional charges against Lacy will be forthcoming, the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office said.

The names and ages of the two juvenile suspects are not being released at this time, according to Blackfoot Police Chief Scott Gay. It remains unclear if the juveniles will be charged as adults for their involvement in the robbery of the Pocatello Walgreens, police said. The suspects were reportedly not armed with any weapons.

Authorities said they have reason to believe that Lacy and the two juvenile suspects may have been involved in a string of Walgreens robberies that occurred in recent days starting in California and continuing into Oregon and the Boise area, before Friday’s incidents in East Idaho.

The robbery of the pharmacy at the Pocatello Walgreens on the 900 block of Yellowstone Avenue near the Fred Meyer retail store in Pocatello occurred around 9:52 a.m. Friday, police said.

Numerous Pocatello police officers converged on the area in search of the suspects.

Cops pharmacy robbery

Pocatello police are pictured behind the Walgreens on the 900 block of Yellowstone Avenue on Friday morning after the pharmacy was robbed.

Pocatello police initially described the suspects as being young slender black adult males wearing hoodies and surgical masks. Two of the suspects reportedly jumped the counter at the Pocatello Walgreens, stole drugs and fled the scene. Police said the suspects reportedly smelled of marijuana.

Pocatello police said additional charges against Lacy and the two juvenile suspects related to the robbery in Pocatello are forthcoming.

The suspects fled from the Pocatello Walgreens in a dark gray Volkswagen sedan with California license plates on Highway 30 and apparently headed toward the city of Blackfoot.

Police said the suspects then entered three other East Idaho Walgreens pharmacies — in Blackfoot, Ammon and Rexburg — but aroused the suspicion of employees and fled before stealing anything.

Either Walgreens employees or Pocatello police informed the Walgreens in Blackfoot of the Pocatello robbery moments before the three suspects entered the Blackfoot store, said Pocatello police, adding that the suspects quickly left the Blackfoot Walgreens without stealing anything around 10:54 a.m. Friday.

The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said the suspects were also observed inside the Walgreens in Ammon, though no robbery occurred there and the suspects fled before authorities arrived.

Rexburg Assistant Police Chief Gary Hagen said his department around 11:30 a.m. Friday also received a report that the suspects entered a Walgreens in Rexburg, though no robbery occurred at that location either.

The Rexburg Police Department established a perimeter around the Walgreens there in an attempt to capture Lacy and the other two suspects but were informed shortly after noon that Bingham County authorities had located the suspect vehicle on Interstate 15, Hagen said.

The suspects were observed heading south on Interstate 15 in Bingham County around noon Friday and a high-speed pursuit ensued, Pocatello police said.

The suspects stopped their vehicle near Interstate 15’s Fort Hall exit after police used spike strips to deflate its tires. A foot pursuit then occurred in the nearby parking lot of the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Casino before all three suspects were taken into custody without further incident, Pocatello police said.

There were no injuries during any of Friday’s incidents involving the suspects.

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