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Two similar businesses in two neighborhoods with two murders. The LAPD is trying to determine if two medical marijuana dispensary robberies gone awry yesterday are connected.
At 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, a Echo Park pot shop on the 1300 block of Sunset Boulevard was violently robbed, leaving one person dead and another wounded. Five hours later, another shooting at a dispensary a few miles away on the 1600 block of North El Centro Avenue left another dead.
The LA Times warns that this could add fuel to the debate about the facilities. "The shootings are sure to increase debate about medical marijuana businesses around L.A. Critics say there are far too many and claim the businesses generate crime." When people tried to use that last year, it was refuted when the LAPD brought out the crime statistics.