Police: Failed high school drug deal kicks off series of Petaluma robberies

Three Petaluma teens were arrested Saturday after a suspected drug deal gone sour at Petaluma High School led to a series of armed robberies with a fake gun, police said.

What shaped up to be a day filled with mayhem began when police received reports of juveniles fighting at the high school campus around noon, according to a press release from the Petaluma Police Department.

The teens were gone when police arrived, but officers were later dispatched to the Phoenix Theater, where a juvenile had reportedly brandished a gun at one of his peers, police said. Though the group left by the time police arrived, officers were able to tentatively identify the youths involved in the incident.

Shortly after, when responding to a domestic violence call in the area of Howard and Stanley streets, police found the teens believed to be involved in the stick up at the Phoenix Theater, according to the news release.

The domestic violence claims were unfounded, but after chasing down and detaining the teens, officers linked them to the events at the high school and theater, though the replica gun wasn’t located, police said.

When investigating the incidents that unfolded over the course of the day, officers determined that three Petaluma teens, ages 14 and 15, arranged to meet another 15-year-old Petaluma resident at the high school to buy cocaine, police said.

A prior bad narcotic deal with the victim prompted the three to steal his cocaine. After the robbery, the victim fled down Western Avenue, but the three caught up and stole his wallet, police said.

Two of the suspects later found the victim inside the Phoenix Theater, where they allegedly pulled out the bogus firearm and tried to steal his designer belt.

An adult witness broke up the tussle and the victim fled, police said.

The three suspects were arrested on suspicion of robbery, brandishing a replica firearm and obstructing arrest. Police are investigating a possible link to street gangs.

The victim wasn’t injured in any of the robberies and the identities of the teens were not released.