Executive director of CannaCare in Kirkland, Finn Hill resident Steve Sarich recently led a rally on the steps of the state House to call on state legislators to provide more legal protection for medical marijuana patients. Monday morning Sarich, who legally grows medical marijuana in his home, protected his life from would-be robbers.

Police believe four suspects, including a 19-year-old Renton man, attempted to break into Sarich’s home in the 11400 block of Juanita Drive, which was cordoned off between N.E. 112th Place and N.E. 141st Street from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. due to the investigation.

Sarich and his girlfriend were asleep when their dogs started barking, said King County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart.

Sarich, 59, went to check on the dogs and ended up exchanging gunfire with the suspect from Renton. Sarich hit the man more than once, critically wounding him. A 21-year-old woman living in the house called 911 at 4:47 a.m.

Sarich, who was also injured, was taken to Evergreen Hospital with relatively minor wounds from shotgun pellets. The woman was not injured.

“They only missed hitting me in the face by four inches with a 12 gauge,” Sarich later told the Reporter after he was released from the hospital. “I still have shot gun pellets in my arm and face.”

According to Urquhart, the woman told the 911 dispatcher that her boyfriend had been shot.

“Deputies responded and were staging to go onto the property when another 9-1-1 call was received. This time it was from a male who was outside the house and said he had been shot,” said Urquhart.

The man turned out to be a suspect.

The Renton man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

Guardian 1 and SWAT teams were brought in to assist in the search for other suspects, one of which was later picked up attempting to hitchhike out of the area.

“About 8 a.m. Sheriff’s deputies received a report of a man trying to flag down cars on Holmes Point Drive, which is relatively close to the location of the incident,” said Urquhart. “Reportedly, the man had cash in his hand as he tried to flag down a ride.”

The man was eventually taken into custody as police learned he was one of the suspects. Police are still looking for two more suspects they believe fled the scene in a car.

Sarich said the King County Sherrif’s Office was waiting on a warrant to search his home late Monday afternoon.

“We do nothing whatsoever illegal here, but (the police) will probably come rob my house, cut down my (marijuana) plants and make me a victim twice in one day,” said Sarich, who uses medical marijuana to treat his degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis. His house is a medical marijuana nursery of sorts, where he uses fluorescent lighting to grow mother marijuana plants and gives the offspring to patients so they can grow their own.

Sarich keeps a couple pistols on hand to protect himself as his home has been a target of invasion in the past. On Jan. 13 this year, he found two men in his house and chased them off.

Detectives are investigating whether the two incidents are related.

“This is what we’ve been trying to tell people,” said Sarich. “We are not safe and can’t even call the police if we’re robbed because then we got robbed twice.”

He cited a recent incident where a CannaCare patient, Mike Howard, 38, was beaten to death during an alleged robbery attempt in Orting, Wash. on Friday. Sarich, who worked to publicize the alleged murder over the weekend, said Howard died after he was clubbed in the head with a crowbar by robbers who were after his pot crop. Police later raided Howard’s home and cut down his marijuana plants, Sarich said.

Prior to the incident on Monday, Sarich wrote to state legislators, criticizing state laws and the conduct of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

“What happened to Mike Howard could happen to me, or any other patient in Washington as long as we can’t trust the police to do their jobs.”