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Panic alarm draws police to closed marijuana shop

Store to reopen once permits are in place
Police responded to false panic alarm at an out-of-business marijuana shop at 927 Colorado Highway 3 on Thursday in Durango. The alarm was accidentally set off.

Police responded with guns drawn to an out-of-business marijuana shop Thursday in Durango when a panic alarm was accidentally set off.

The incident occurred about 3:35 p.m. at the former Nature’s Own Wellness Center, 927 Colorado Highway 3. The marijuana dispensary has been closed since November 2013.

Tanya Garduño of Colorado Springs plans to reopen the dispensary under a new name. She and her son were inside the shop when her son accidentally triggered the panic alarm, she said.

They were about to leave the store and were locking up when about eight police cars rolled up, she said. Officers asked her to walk to the other end of the parking lot while two officers climbed onto the roof of the building with guns drawn, she said.

Garduño identified herself and asked police to not knock down her door.

Officers were good natured and carried out the procedures they use in the event of panic alarms, she said. No doors were knocked down.

“It was great that they were there that quickly,” Garduño said. “They were extremely professional. If something had been going on, I would have been extremely excited that they were there.”

Durango Police Department spokesman Ray Shupe said police respond to every panic alarm as if there’s a true holdup or other tense situation.

“We have to take all of them seriously,” he said. “We don’t know what they’re going to be until we get in there.”

Garduño, who is president of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council, is applying for her permits to open the store. Until then, there is no marijuana on site, she said.

shane@durangoherald.com



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