West Seattle, Washington
27 Wednesday
10:53 PM: Police including a K9 team are searching in the area of 35th and Raymond. The call started as a reported hit-run crash, with the driver and at least one passenger leaving the scene on foot; then police reported via radio to dispatch that a passenger left behind told them the incident included an “attempted drive-by shooting.” So now police are also looking for those possible suspects in what was described only as a white Buick.
11:01 PM: Via radio – the search is focused on that white Buick, as officers believe the people who left the scene were trying to escape danger. The white Buick is also now described as having dark-tinted windows and one burned-out headlight.
Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:
‘HATEFUL GRAFFITI’: That’s how Lindsay described what she found by Seola Pond over the weekend:
We cropped the photo; the post/box is defaced with a swastika and a word/name that contains “white.” That area is on the city/county line so Lindsay was looking into reporting it to both jurisdictions: “Very disturbing in our family-friendly little neighborhood.”
CAR/CARPORT PROWLS: Also in Arbor Heights, as reported by James:
We had thefts from our cars and our carports, as did our neighbors who live right behind us. Our cars are parked off the street but were not locked (I know, we learned our lesson).
The contents taken: several jackets (north face, etc), boots, a bike from our neighbors, a few other items (and we’re still trying to figure out if there’s more). Just a good reminder for people in our area. … It could have been worse – they were nice thieves – they left all of the jackets/gloves of our 2-year-old son. So there’s that positive to take from this.
Something to share via West Seattle Crime Watch? Once it’s reported to police, email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
The photo is from Nancy, reporting that another of the 25+-year-old murals in The Junction has been vandalized: “I wake up each morning to look at this awesome mural and this morning when I pulled up the blinds, this is what I saw. How disappointing.” The mural on the parking-lot-facing north side of the building at 4520 44th SW depicts a scene at the swimming hole that preceded Colman Pool on the shore at Lincoln Park; the vandalism is tagging done in white paint on the swimming-hole midsection of the mural. This is one of the murals that community volunteers hope to be able to restore, with an ongoing fundraising campaign. Meantime, the West Seattle Junction Association has been made aware of the vandalism, and we will follow up next week.
Thanks to the readers who messaged us, wondering about a police response in High Point. They mentioned seeing officers in multiple locations, so we went looking around and found police near 34th/Graham. They told us this was related to a stolen car and suspects being taken into custody who might be linked to robbery cases. That’s all we have in the early going; we will have to follow up tomorrow to get full details.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:34 AM: Thanks for the tips. Gatewood Elementary briefly sheltered in place this morning – it was over before we even could confirm it, and now we have details. Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Tim Robinson tells WSB, “Around 7:45 am today, a crossing guard was parking her car in the school parking lot. A woman jumped in and said she had a gun. The crossing guard jumped out, the woman who made the threat took off in the car. Police came and took a report. Just as a precaution, the school was put into shelter-in-place (a step below “lockdown”) as the students and staff were arriving to school. The shelter-in-place was lifted at 8:10 am.” We’re following up with police.
11:56 AM: As is sometimes the case, now that some investigation has ensued, the story is different. The case number finally appeared, categorized as “harassment/threats,” so SPD media relations was able to look it up for us. The car was NOT taken, they say; a woman did threaten to take the car, the victim ran away in fear for her safety, and at some point the person who threatened her left the area and was not found.
That’s some of the damage done by a hit-and-run driver in Highland Park. The photos and report are from Eric:
My car and 2 others were hit between 5 pm and 9 pm Saturday night on 9th Ave SW just south of Kenyon. Our car was the middle one, the Toyota Highlander. Still having trouble grasping how they hit the three cars how they did. Looks like there is white paint rubbed off on our car. Hit the red car first and somehow popped both tires. Then hit our car hard enough to push it up on the curb. Then the back corner of the Lexus.
Police incident # is 2019-068679.
2:20 PM: We’re at the King County Courthouse, where 40-year-old Ryan J. Cox has just been sentenced to 5 years in prison for stabbing a man in Gatewood in August 2017.
(August 2017 WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Superior Court Judge Susan Amini presided at the sentencing. Though the victim could not be at the hearing, a victims’ advocate read a lengthy letter he had written, saying Cox “should never be able to be free” after trying to kill him. The judge mentioned receiving a number of other letters from the victim’s family and friends.
Cox pleaded guilty last month to an enhanced version of the original second-degree-assault charge. The sentence ordered by Judge Amini is what prosecutors recommended, categorized in court documents as an “exceptional sentence” – four years in prison, plus one year after that for using a deadly weapon. Cox’s lawyer, meantime, filed a brief just before today’s sentencing, asking for a six-month sentence, the low end of the “standard” range, saying Cox “is trying to overcome his past difficulties and to better prepare himself to deal with these challenges in his future.” At the hearing, Cox contended the stabbing was in self-defense and expressed anger after the judge announced her decision.
As detailed in this WSB followup in 2017, Cox has a high-profile criminal history in the community, but mostly misdemeanors, which is what made this sentence “exceptional.” We recorded this afternoon’s hearing and will add video and details later.
5:15 PM: Video now added atop this story.
ADDED 9:04 PM: Here is our recap of the hearing:
Two notes in Crime Watch this midday:
1ST AVENUE S. BRIDGE SHOOTING: Reported this morning via SPD Blotter:
Gang Unit Detectives are investigating after a man was shot in the leg while driving over the 1st Avenue South bridge.
Officers were approached by an 18-year-old man in the 2600 block of South Holly Street at 1:20 a.m. Friday where he showed them a gunshot wound to his calf. The victim said he had been driving when he heard several shots and a single round entered the vehicle through the driver’s side door striking him in the leg. The victim was unable to provide any suspect description to officers.
Seattle Fire Department Medics transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
Gang Unit Detectives are now investigating and are asking anyone with information to please call the tip line at 206-233-5000.
No indication if there’s any suspected link to earlier shootings reported further south on Highway 509.
CAR PROWLER ON CAMERA: The video and report are from Alex in Sunrise Heights:
We live near 32nd and Kenyon and have had our car prowled twice in the last couple weeks; one happened early at 930 pm. Both of these happened in our alley way. Wanted to … warn people and remind them to be safe and be on the lookout!
As reported here in West Seattle Crime Watch coverage, police investigated two armed robberies over the weekend. Today, we obtained the police-report narratives with details on both, while confirming that no one’s been arrested yet in either robbery:
SOUTH DELRIDGE: This holdup on Sunday night was a street robbery, according to the police report. The victim approached an officer in the 9000 block of Delridge Way SW around 10:42 pm Sunday night to say he had been robbed at gunpoint “a block or so south.” The officer drove south and spotted a suspect at 20th/Cambridge who refused to stop and kept his hand in a position that had police suspecting he was holding a gun. Eventually this turned into a foot pursuit but officers lost track of the suspect around 17th/Cambridge, and the ensuing K9-included search didn’t lead to an arrest. The victim told police that the robber got away with his iPhone.
(Saturday night photo by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)
35TH/AVALON SALON: You might recall the description we published after this Saturday night holdup included an umbrella. The narrative adds one more detail – the 40ish robber held that umbrella in front of his face. The officer who wrote the report began by noting Salon Maison (4435 35th SW) “did not appear to have been robbed as patrons were still getting their hair styled” but then spoke with a witness who described herself as “in shock.” She told police the robber -who came in around 5:30 pm – showed a “silver handgun with brown or wood grip” and said, “I’m sorry to do this but I need all your money.” He took all the cash in the register except what police noted were “several $1 bills.” At least one surveillance camera caught an image that appeared to be the robber – umbrella and all.
That’s Sascha‘s teal-color 1993 Honda Accord wagon, stolen sometime Sunday night/Monday morning near Alki Avenue SW/60th Avenue SW. Plate number BDJ4620, bumper stickers for The Beer Junction and Lake Chelan Mountain View. If you see it, call 911.
10:48 PM: Big police response in, and headed toward, South Delridge, after a reported armed robbery. We haven’t heard who was robbed or exactly where but the 9000 block of Delridge Way SW was mentioned. An officer who at one point had a suspect in sight described him via radio communication as a black male teenager, 5’11”, 180, hoodie, bright-orange beanie, handgun. A K9 team is joining the search.
10:59 PM: The description has changed the suspect’s estimated weight from 180 to 130 and honed the age to around 17 years old.
11:21 PM: Still searching.
12:11 AM: Still an active search, and it’s ranged quite a distance from the original scene. By the way, if you wondered about the bursts of sirens, here’s an explanation from an incident a few months ago.
1:01 AM: The search has wound down, no one reported in custody. We’ll follow up on incident details when the written report is available, which probably won’t be before Tuesday.
Reader report from TD – a car break-in west of The Junction:
My Subaru Outback was gone through sometime last night. I thought I had locked it, but the battery is going out in my key fob and it might not have locked when pressed.
Nothing damaged and I don’t keep enough valuable stuff in the car for it to be much of a haul… a cheap cellphone auto charger, roll of dog poo bags, pair of cheap binoculars for bird watching and 1/2 book of stamps were the most valuable, along with some random papers, maps and a small notebook with non important information in it. The biggest concern is that they got my auto registration papers and owner’s manual, which I will have to replace.
This happened “in the alley between 46th and 47th, Oregon and Alaska,” and a police report has been filed.
9:40 PM: Another big police response tonight -this one is happening right now in the 35th/Roxbury vicinity. Per radio communication, they’re investigating a reported burglary at a residence. They’ll be searching the area with K-9 assistance.
10:16 PM: No further details. Police are still at the scene in the 9400 block of 35th SW but the wider search is reported to be winding down.
6:45 PM: Thanks for the tips. A big police response at 35th/Fauntleroy this past hour; one resident tells WSB they were told to stay in their apartments while police were in search of a robbery suspect. We have a crew on the way to find out more.
6:57 PM: Police tell WSB’s Christopher Boffoli that they’re seeking a suspect in the robbery of a salon at the Aura Apartments building on 35th just south of Avalon. They are still there talking with victims/witnesses. No description made public yet.
7:06 PM: More info from SPD: The salon was robbed at gunpoint. Description only – so far- “white male in a black jacket and blue pants, silver gun, small umbrella.”
Three notes in West Seattle Crime Watch:
CAR PROWLS: Two at one Fauntleroy home, according to this texted report: “Both of my cars were rummaged through in the early morning hours (Feb. 12). Doesn’t appear anything was taken. This was at 45th & Director.”
SUSPECTED PACKAGE THEFT: Another reader wanted to warn North Admiral neighbors about a suspected package thief. They were out shoveling snow when an older white Toyota pickup pulled up, with a “young woman … about 5’5″, long straight brown hair, with jeans tucked into her boots” got out, walked south, returned from the north a few minutes later with a package in hand, “and quickly got into her truck and drove off when she saw me. … I reported it to SPD.
Neighbors be on the lookout.”
Some court-case delays because of the snow, most notably:
RYAN COX SENTENCING RESCHEDULED: As reported here, Ryan J. Cox pleaded guilty last month to second-degree assault for stabbing a man in Gatewood in October 2017. His sentencing was originally set for last Friday, February 8th, but courts closed early because of the snow and he’s now scheduled to be sentenced on February 22nd.
Thanks to the texter who reported: “I’m having lunch at the Morgan Junction Subway and found out that they were (burglarized) last night. Broke through the back door, which was being repaired while I was there. Terrible to think thieves are taking advantage of businesses during the snowstorm.” We don’t have other details but the SPD Twitter log confirms the burglary report.
(1/26/2019 SDOT cam framegrab showing investigation scene)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 10:12 AM: A reader asked what ever happened in the case of the deadly shooting aboard a C Line bus while it was stopped in SODO two weeks ago. We found that the victim had been identified – 51-year-old Ronnie Tyler – but the status of the 88-year-old man accused of shooting him hadn’t been reported. So we checked with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and discovered that they have filed a charge of first-degree manslaughter, with use of a deadly weapon, against Roger Mize. Here’s what the court documents allege happened:
… (At 11:12 am Saturday, January 26) suspect Roger Mize and victim Ronnie Tyler boarded a northbound King County Metro bus at 4th Ave. S. and S. Walker … The bus was equipped with multiple video cameras. A review of the video recording shows the following:
Suspect Mize boarded the bus first, while victim Tyler was behind him. Tyler stood behind Mize, and began to walk up the stairs of the bus to board, as Mize put money into the pay box. Mize then proceeded to walk back past the driver, as Tyler stood behind him. Mize continued to walk toward the seating area, and was approximately three feet or so past the driver’s seat. At that point, Tyler attempted to move around, to the right of Mize.
As Tyler moved past Mize, Mize pushed Tyler with his right hand and stated “get away from me, you dumb m—– f—–.” Tyler turned his attention to Mize, as Mize began to back up toward the front of the bus. Tyler replied to Mize, “What’d you call me?” Tyler started to nudge and push Mize backward with his left forearm. As that was happening, Mize turned his back to Tyler while he reached inside his front left jacket pocket and retrieved his pistol. Tyler then gave Mize a harder push, which jolted Mize forward and toward the front steps of the bus. It should be noted that this occurred simultaneous to the bus moving forward. Mize did not fall or lose his footing, but stumbled forward. Mize turned around and faced Tyler and then there was an approximate 2- to 3-second pause where both men simply stared at each other.
Without further provocation from Tyler and without warning, Mize forcefully struck Tyler twice in the face and head with the pistol (pistol whipped). The bus stopped at this point and the bus driver attempted to verbally stop the altercation. After absorbing the second blow by Mize, Tyler began to reach toward Mize, in what appears to be an attempt to stop him from hitting him. At that time, Mize delivers a third blow with his pistol to Tyler’s face/head. After the third strike, Mize fired his pistol, striking Tyler in the lower right abdomen. Tyler continued toward Mize, and pushed him out of the front doors of the bus. As Mize fell backward out of the bus, he fired a second shot (a fired bullet was later recovered by police from the pay box of the bus). Tyler collapsed onto the stairs of the bus and onto the ground.
Tyler died at Harborview Medical Center, which is also where Mize was taken. Detectives interviewed him there the next day. The court documents say he alleged that the victim had been hostile toward someone else at the bus stop, and that once they clashed on the bus, he felt he had to shoot Tyler because he was much younger and bigger. After that, the court document notes that Mize was arrested in another shooting incident five years ago in which he shot another man in the abdomen after some kind of altercation. No charges were filed because of a lack of witnesses and “objective evidence”; the man he shot survived. (We found this Seattle Times report about the case.) As for this case, Mize is scheduled to be arraigned on February 14th; as of the filing earlier this week, he was described as “receiving inpatient rehabilitation services at a care facility”; prosecutors wrote that they were not requesting bail “(g)iven the defendant’s current physical condition and his age.”
7:46 PM: Since publishing the story this morning, we’ve learned that Seattle Police are seeking an Extreme Risk Protection Order to temporarily prevent Mize from possessing guns. (ERPOs were explained at last month’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting.) In the document seeking the order, police say he has a valid concealed-pistol license and at least one gun, a .38-caliber revolver bought last April. Besides the two cases mentioned above, they say that he was arrested in Everett – where he lives, according to what’s listed as his “last known address” – for pulling a gun on a man last November. A temporary ERPO was granted at a hearing this week and a permanent one will be considered at a hearing later this month.
6:21 PM: The big police/fire response is for a stabbing in the 4200 block of West Marginal Way SW. According to initial radio communication, the victim is a woman with a stab wound to the hand. She is reported to have told police the attacker is someone she knows, a black man who left the scene headed southbound as a passenger in a “newer-model white van” with no plates, driven by a black woman – he was reported to have short hair, a silver zip-up jacket, and black pants, and the weapon was reported to be a boxcutter. Police are closing briefly closed the northbound lanes – but now they’re describing the scene as the west side of the West Duwamish Trail.
6:43 PM: SFD has closed out the call; a private ambulance was called for the victim, whose injury was not believed to be life-threatening. Police are still searching for the attacker.
The poster was sent by Robin Lindsey of Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network, who explains:
NOAA’s Office for Law Enforcement (OLE) is offering a $20,000 reward for information about the recent sea lion shootings, a confirmed total of 12 shot dead (9 in West Seattle alone). It is our hope that this will prompt someone to come forward and provide valuable leads. Seal Sitters’ hotline (206-905-7325) received numerous calls reporting shots heard along the Elliott Bay waterfront during the time period the animals were shot (September to early December). There is undoubtedly someone in the public who knows something about the shootings. It is time to get some justice for these remarkable, gregarious animals.
We reported on the shootings multiple times in the fall; the backstory is summarized in this post on Seal Sitters’ website, which also includes a higher-resolution version of the poster shown above, for anyone interested in printing and displaying it.
KNOW SOMETHING? As the poster says, call 206-526-4300, or go here.
We’ve published West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports before about gym-locker thefts. This one, reported by Linh, led to the theft of her car:
Be on the lookout for a silver 2007 Lexus RX. license #AOE7002, that was taken last night between 7 pm-9 pm at the gym [LA Fitness]. They got into my locker in the women’s locker room. Took my gym bag including my car keys inside. It was a nylon black North Face tote. I always carry it with me with my clothes. … Hopefully someone saw something last night in the parking garage or has any information. Thank you.
If you see the car, call 911.
(Added: Scene photo shared by Ray in comments)
1:28 PM: Thanks for the tips about an emergency response in Arbor Heights. According to SFD radio communication, a 14-year-old boy was hurt in a collision with a car while sledding at/near 35th SW and SW 110th. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening and he was described as “awake and alert,” but he is being taken to Harborview Medical Center. Streets are blocked near the intersection while police investigate.
ADDED TUESDAY MORNING, 8:04 AM: The driver is under investigation for possible DUI.
10:48 AM: SPD has posted the case on its blog-format “blotter”:
A 14-year-old boy sustained a head injury after he collided with a car while he was riding a sled down a hill in West Seattle yesterday. The 20-year-old driver of the car was later arrested and booked into jail for DUI.
On Monday, at approximately 1:00 pm, a Ford Focus was traveling southbound on 35th Avenue SW approaching SW 110th Street when the 14-year-old on the sled entered the intersection. The 20-year-old male driver of the Focus attempted to brake, but the vehicle continued to slide on the icy road and the Focus and sled collided, causing the injury.
The driver called 911 reporting the collision. Officers arrived, along with the Fire Department. The driver was evaluated at the scene and was later arrested for suspicious of DUI (marijuana). The 14-year-old was transported to HMC where he is recovering.
The driver of the vehicle was later booked into the King County Jail. This remains an active and on-going investigation.
From the “dumped and likely stolen” file. George sent the photo:
“In the alley between 37th and 38th SW just south of Morgan St.” is where George found it.
More than half a dozen callers to 911 earlier this hour reported what sounded like gunfire in south Highland Park. One location mentioned in radio communication: 12th/Trenton. No word of any victims turning up, and we haven’t heard of any gunfire evidence (shell casings, damage) so far, but police are in the area investigating.
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