Detectives investigate around a marijuana dispensary where two men were shot, one fatally. (KTLA-TV / June 24, 2010) |
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LOS ANGELES -- Police are trying to determine whether deadly attacks on employees at two medical marijuana dispensaries are connected.
In one attack, four robbers gunned down one employee and wounded another at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Higher Path Holistic Care Collective on Sunset Boulevard in the Echo Park area.
Killed was Matthew Butcher, 27, of Los Angeles, a coroner's official said.
The other employee, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
Five hours after the first attack, the owner of the Hollywood Holistic dispensary found the body of an employee at the store, said Cmdr. David Doan, chief of detectives.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office on Saturday identified that man as IlA Ali Packman, 39, of Hollywood.
No surveillance video was available from either store, and because investigators do not know the motive for the second killing, they were unsure whether the two attacks were linked, Doan said.
However, marijuana dispensaries handle large amounts of money, which could make them targets for robbers, Doan said.
Crime was among the concerns that prompted the City Council to crack down on pot dispensaries, which have flourished since California voters legalized use of marijuana for medical reasons in 1996.
The initiative did not address actual sales of the drug, and communities up and down the state have struggled to craft laws.
New Los Angeles city regulations that took effect earlier this month bar dispensaries from being near homes, schools, churches or parks.
Some began closing, and city officials have said an estimated 400 clinics could be forced out of business.
More than 130 existing dispensaries that registered before a 2007 moratorium can stay open if they prove within six months that they meet the new guidelines.
Doan said both the clinics where the shootings occurred were licensed before the moratorium.
In one attack, four robbers gunned down one employee and wounded another at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Higher Path Holistic Care Collective on Sunset Boulevard in the Echo Park area.
Killed was Matthew Butcher, 27, of Los Angeles, a coroner's official said.
The other employee, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
Five hours after the first attack, the owner of the Hollywood Holistic dispensary found the body of an employee at the store, said Cmdr. David Doan, chief of detectives.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office on Saturday identified that man as IlA Ali Packman, 39, of Hollywood.
No surveillance video was available from either store, and because investigators do not know the motive for the second killing, they were unsure whether the two attacks were linked, Doan said.
However, marijuana dispensaries handle large amounts of money, which could make them targets for robbers, Doan said.
Crime was among the concerns that prompted the City Council to crack down on pot dispensaries, which have flourished since California voters legalized use of marijuana for medical reasons in 1996.
The initiative did not address actual sales of the drug, and communities up and down the state have struggled to craft laws.
New Los Angeles city regulations that took effect earlier this month bar dispensaries from being near homes, schools, churches or parks.
Some began closing, and city officials have said an estimated 400 clinics could be forced out of business.
More than 130 existing dispensaries that registered before a 2007 moratorium can stay open if they prove within six months that they meet the new guidelines.
Doan said both the clinics where the shootings occurred were licensed before the moratorium.
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