The cannabis dispensary in the St. Johns neighborhood where two people died Thursday night had been targeted by multiple armed robberies since 2022, records show.
As a result, the North Portland store stopped letting customers in after 9 p.m., directing them to the drive-through window until closing time at 10 p.m., unless they could provide an ID that workers could verify. That's according to a sign outside La Mota on Friday that attributed the rule to a "string" of robberies.
"Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause," the sign read.
Thursday's shooting happened just after 9:30 p.m., and broken glass still littered the area near the drive-through window Friday.
Police have said little about what led to the shooting. They have not identified who died. But they did say a person "believed to be involved" remained at the scene at North St. Louis Avenue and Seneca Street and cooperated with police.
Matt O'Keefe, who lives near the dispensary, said he heard gunshots and police sirens when he went outside to take out the trash.
Homicide detectives are actively working the case, said police Sgt. Kevin Allen, who declined to share additional information, citing the ongoing investigation.
A person who used to work at the store but declined to be identified said no employee was injured in the shooting. The co-founders of La Mota, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
O'Keefe said the dispensary had helped improve conditions in the area as the building was previously abandoned.
Records from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission show at least four instances in the past three years in which the La Mota location in St. Johns was the site of an armed robbery. Two took place close to 10 p.m.
In May 2022, a man brandishing a gun stole more than $6,000 of products.
"We were using an outside window and the guy came up to the teller type window and pulled the gun at the window," a store employee told a state investigator. "Our employee was told to let them in with a gun pointed at her. She let them in and they robbed the store."
In June of this year, one employee was working when five people allegedly entered the store with guns and stole about $11,000 worth of marijuana products and cash, according to the reports. They filled up trash bags of money and products in the store before taking off. All wore masks.
Marijuana dispensaries have been frequent robbery targets in Portland, especially as they typically conduct business with cash. In 2020, an employee at Cured Green, 44-year-old Michael Arthur, was shot and killed during a robbery.
In November, Portland police arrested a trio of teenagers after police said they drove stolen cars into the front of three cannabis dispensaries, stole merchandise and fled while being tailed by a police airplane. The dispensaries targeted in that string included Nectar, Eden Cannabis and Five Zero Trees. Managers of the locations previously described the frustration of the thefts.
"It does affect morale for the people that need to wake up and clean it and rebuild a plywood door for the second time in a weekend," Beau Havercroft, the assistant manager at Eden Cannabis, said then.
-- Zaeem Shaikh covers the Portland Police Bureau and criminal justice issues for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-221-4323, [email protected] or on X @zaeemshake.