Minn. Fire Headquarters Locked Down After Robbery

April 04--A gun was brandished and prescription drugs stolen during a robbery of a West Seventh Street pharmacy in St. Paul on Tuesday, April 3, police said. Police arrested two men and put up a perimeter in the area as they searched for and caught a suspect who had escaped.

Several 911 calls were made from inside the West Seventh Pharmacy, 1106 W. Seventh St., a little after 10:15 a.m. about a robbery in progress, said Howie Padilla, police spokesman.

The suspects fled in a vehicle as officers were arriving, Padilla said. Police pulled the vehicle over near West Seventh Street and Palace Avenue, and three adult men were inside, he said.

Police arrested the driver, who was taken by ambulance, though he was not injured, Padilla said. "He had specific transportation needs based on the fact that he was non-ambulatory," he said.

The man is not suspected of entering the pharmacy, but of driving the getaway vehicle. Padilla said he could not elaborate on the medical condition that prevented the man from walking.

Two other men ran from the vehicle. "One of them was taken into custody after a very short foot chase," Padilla said. "The other one eluded us at first," Padilla said, and police put up a perimeter. Later in the morning, police arrested him on Colborne Street, by Jefferson Avenue.

Arrested in the robbery were Ray James Brown, 24, of Minneapolis, Rayshawn Earl James Brown, 20, of Minneapolis and Michael Brooks Bynum, 30, of Minneapolis, police said.

Police

recovered a stolen gun and prescription medications that were stolen, he said.

He said police will be cooperating with other jurisdictions "as we try and piece together -- was this an isolated incident or is it something that's connected to something larger," including other pharmacy robberies.

Armed robberies of pharmacies reported in Minnesota have been on the rise this year, and prescription drug abuse is a continuing problem, officials said.

Robbers have geld up six pharmacies so far this year, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. That compares with seven robberies for all of 2011, 10 in 2010 and 21 in 2009, said Daniel Moren, assistant special agent in charge of the Minneapolis-St. Paul district office, which covers Minnesota and North Dakota.

"We know that as supplies run low on the street, people are looking for sources of the drugs and for those selling, that could be a pharmacy," Moren said. "On the street, these drugs are as valuable as heroin and cocaine and methamphetamine."

After Tuesday's robbery, public buildings were locked down in the area while police searched for the suspect.

The city's fire department headquarters at West Seventh Street and Randolph Avenue and the St. Paul Public Schools building on Colborne Street were among the places where people were told to stay inside.

There are two schools for special education students attached to the district building that were part of the lockdown, said Julie Schultz Brown, a spokeswoman for the school district. The Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school's Palace Avenue campus was also locked down for a short time, she said.

The pharmacy was open after the robbery. A worker declined comment.

For the past several years, officials have noted an increase in prescription drug abuse in the Twin Cities and statewide that parallels an increase in heroin abuse. The number of people entering drug treatment in the Twin Cities for opiates and heroin now exceeds that of people entering treatment for marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine; it is second only to alcohol, said Carol Falkowski, drug abuse strategy officer for the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

It's mostly prescription painkillers that are being abused and "some people who are introduced to opiate addiction through painkillers will switch to heroin, if it's available -- high purity and low cost," Falkowski said. "Data from the Drug Enforcement Administration indicate that Minneapolis has the highest-purity heroin of all U.S cities with Mexican heroin, and the lowest cost per pure milligram."

Why the increase in prescription drug abuse? Falkowski said, "It's a combination of factors coming together to make the perfect storm." The number of hydrocodone and oxycodone prescriptions dispensed from U.S. retail pharmacies nationwide rose from 44 million in 1991 to 179 million in 2009, Falkowski said.

"We know that people who are drug abusers are influenced by the supply of drugs that are most readily available and now prescription narcotics are part of that mix," she said. "This is significant because many young people are not reluctant to try a pill to get high. There's the misbelief that they're safer, there the misbelief that you can't get addicted, there's the misbelief that it's just not that big of a deal."

Drug-induced deaths, attributed to prescription drug abuse, surpassed motor vehicle deaths in 2009 nationally, Falkowski said. The biggest demographic of opiate addicts are suburban males, ages 18 to 25, she said.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried or twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.

Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.