SEATTLE — Four Seattle juveniles were arrested in connection with a series of armed crimes in Portland, including a convenience store robbery in which an employee was shot multiple times and critically injured, Portland police said.

The investigation began after a robbery and shooting at about 4:46 a.m. Friday at a gas station convenience store in the 400 block of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Multiple armed suspects threatened a store clerk before another employee entered the store, prompting a struggle during which multiple shots were fired, Police said.

The employee was struck at least five times — four times in the abdomen and once in the leg. Bullets also hit the store’s walls and shattered a window.

Officers arrived less than four minutes after being dispatched, secured the scene, and summoned emergency medical responders.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he underwent extensive surgery. Police said he is expected to survive.

Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit, patrol officers, forensic specialists, and analysts linked the robbery to several other crimes earlier in the week, including a rideshare driver’s carjacking at gunpoint on Tuesday, a menacing incident involving armed suspects attempting to steal from a vehicle, and an armed robbery at another gas station convenience store in which an employee was struck in the head with a handgun.

Hours before Friday’s shooting, officers responded to a report of masked suspects attempting to enter another convenience store. After the suspects left, officers searched the area, anticipating another robbery.

Later Friday, investigators identified suspect vehicles and tracked possible suspects to a residence in Northeast Portland.

A search warrant was served with assistance from the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction Team, Crisis Negotiation Team, and East Metro SWAT. Twelve people were detained, and multiple handguns were seized.

Police said three juveniles, ages 15, 16, and 17, all from Seattle, were charged in connection with Friday’s robbery. Additional charges tied the juveniles to the earlier robberies and menacing case.

A fourth 17-year-old from Seattle was charged in the Tuesday robbery. An adult Portland man was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

The investigation remains ongoing, and additional or modified charges are possible, police said.

Jimothy, a raccoon who may have short-spine syndrome, has gone viral overnight after being spotted around Seattle.

KIRO host John Curley tried to describe the uniquely shaped animal, who has quickly become a local celebrity, on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“Just imagine a raccoon for a moment,” Curley said. “Normal raccoon in your mind. There’s a raccoon. He has the black around his eyes. You know why that is? That’s to cut down on glare, so he can see better. Like a football player has the black eye shade on there. So, a normal raccoon. Now, just imagine if you took the raccoon and you put one hand on his like snout, and you put the other hand on his backside there, and you had superhuman strength, and you were able to kind of crush him like a can, without killing him.

“No, then you kill him and throw him in the garbage. No, you just squish him a little bit, and you crush him up,” he continued. “Imagine if he’s made out of clay. Then all of a sudden, like, OK, you know he’s got this kind of bump on his back. Well, that’s what this thing looks like. Took me a long way to get to it.”

Jimothy seen on porches, wandering through Ballard

In one video, Jimothy is seen dipping his hands into a bowl on a porch. Curley debunked the common myth that raccoons wash their food, explaining that water actually stimulates nerve endings in their fingers, helping them feel what they’re eating better.

“The raccoon will dip the food, if they find food, in water all the time, and people like, ‘Oh, they’re always washing their food. They got hygiene on their mind.’ No, it helps to stimulate the end of their fingers so that the nerve endings are more sensitive,” he said. “So they do that, and even when they can’t find water, they’ll turn it like they’re spinning it to put it in water. It’s to create more sensitivity, so they have a better idea of what they’re eating.”

Ballard residents have reported seeing Jimothy wandering across backyard decks, drinking from a dog’s water bowl, and sitting in neighborhood trees.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow