SALINAS

Garbage can fire torches house

A home in Salinas caught fire early Tuesday after fireplace remnants were placed in an outside garbage can, a fire official said.

Battalion Chief Scott Myhre said a neighbor noticed the fire about 3 a.m. and called firefighters and the two occupants of the two-story house on the 500 block of Saint Albans Way.

The occupants were not injured but were displaced by the fire, which caused about $20,000 in damage, he said.

Firefighters put out the fire in about 15 minutes, he said.

SALINAS

Man foiled in cough-syrup robbery

A man tried to steal a bottle of cough syrup from behind a pharmacy counter on Monday, Salinas police said.

The man approached the counter at CVS Pharmacy, 110 E. Laurel Drive, about 7:45 p.m., handed an employee a note demanding prescription strength cough syrup and threatened to shoot her if she did not comply, police said.

As the employee showed a co-worker the note, the man jumped the counter and grabbed a bottle of cough syrup, but fled without the medicine when another employee yelled at him, police said.

The robber is described as a man with dreadlocks, about 30 years old, 5-foot-10 and 130 pounds.