LAKE STEVENS — These crooks were clowns.

Police arrested three teens Thursday night after an attempted robbery of a grocery store in Lake Stevens.

Shane McDaniel had stepped outside with some customers shortly before 10 p.m. when his son, Harry, came running up to him to report that he’d just been confronted in a backroom by two bat-wielding figures wearing clown masks.

“Basically Bozo with fangs,” McDaniel said.

Harry brandished a knife, which sent the clowns racing to their compact car, a red Honda Civic.

“They left the store in a bit of a hurry,” Lake Stevens Police Chief John Dyer said.

McDaniel, his son and one of their customers piled into his Audi A6 to pursue the trio and to call 911.

They followed long enough to get license plate information to the police who were in waiting when the suspects’ vehicle reached Highway 9 and 20th Street SE.

Somewhere along the way, McDaniel said he figured he better slow down, fearing the other car could cause a crash because it was passing other vehicles around blind corners.

McDaniel runs Norm’s Market — Keg and Bottle Shop, which the father of six has owned for more than 20 years.

Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies and Lake Stevens police arrested the suspects; two 16, one 17. They made a court appearance at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett on Friday. None were from Lake Stevens, Dyer said.

The suspects allegedly stole some Budweiser beer and had returned to the backrooms. McDaniel found their selection a curious choice, given the store’s more than 700 types of craft beer,

It wasn’t the first time McDaniel has given chase. Sometimes, the adrenaline just kicks in, he said.

Several years ago, a man and woman robbed him while he was in the store parking lot unloading hundreds of dollars in change.

As they were trying to flee, McDaniel jumped into the bed of their pickup truck and broke through the back window. He said he was half in and half out of the cab, tussling with the pair while she was driving at a high rate of speed.

Eventually, he said he told them that if they stopped, he would get out.

They complied. He hopped out and then got into a Ford Mustang driven by a young Army enlistee who’d been following. They continued to pursue the pickup.

It didn’t end well for the suspects in that case, either. They were arrested in Granite Falls. One was a Lake Stevens man with a lengthy criminal history. He was convicted.

McDaniel concedes chasing bad guys probably isn’t the safest thing to do, but he doesn’t like the idea of people taking advantage of him.

“I don’t get scared or nervous but I don’t get stupid either,” he said. “Some people would say what I did was extremely foolish, but it takes all types I guess and I’m a different type.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.