West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
(Click for full-size PDF version)
That map shows confirmed shots-fired incidents around the city so far this year. We obtained it from Mayor Ed Murray‘s office in connection with this afternoon’s announcement that the city is again seeking “acoustic gunshot detection.” This comes four years after his predecessor announced a plan to budget for a gunfire-detection system – a plan that never came to fruition. Back then, part of West Seattle was suggested as ripe for such a system; today’s announcement focused more on other areas of the city including South Park – you can see the map above includes clusters there and in North Delridge.
The mayor was joined by Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole in making the announcement on Gun Violence Awareness Day. The announcement also says he will “work with the Seattle City Council to require that all surplus firearms from the Seattle Police Department are only sold to other law enforcement agencies.”
Regarding the potential detection technology, the announcement says:
Gunshot locators actively listen for gunshots and detect the exact location where guns are fired. Unlike reports from nearby residents who may be uncertain, these systems’ advanced technology reliably report when and where the shots were fired. A video camera attached to the system is activated to capture the incident. Law enforcement authorities are notified immediately and a police officer can be dispatched to the vicinity without delay. …
… Community feedback will be critical to designing the system, deciding where it is deployed, and defining how it functions. Working with the community, the City will to use its race and social justice toolkit during the assessment of the pilot program. The City will engage with civil liberties advocates and ensure that it complies with the City’s existing privacy policy.
A federal grant would pay for a pilot system, says the announcement, which you can read in its entirety here. It also says that while the number of confirmed shots-fired incidents to date this year is smaller than last year – 144 this year, 154 a year earlier – they’re deadlier, with five shooting deaths this year, two last year.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has issued a Request for Proposals to gather interest from potential contractors who could construct the system. The city says the system would be paid for with a federal grant.
That’s the clearest image of the truck shown on security video, entering and leaving South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) in a span of less than 10 minutes, before and after Tuesday morning’s smash-and-grab ATM theft at Brockey Center (here’s our original report; here’s our followup on the damage done). While tracking technology led police to the ATM safe in an Arbor Heights backyard within a few hours, they have not yet found the truck or made arrests. SSC provided the video to WSB – here are the two sections showing the truck arriving and departing (at a time when the main-campus entrances on 16th SW are gated):
SPD describes the truck as a “white Chevrolet pickup truck with a crew cab” and asks that anyone with information about it, and/or anything else related to the theft, call the Southwest Precinct burglary unit at 206-233-2623.
DRIVE-BY CAR PROWLING: Shaun reports:
At roughly 1:28 am my wife witnessed this van driving down our street and stopping and opening car doors. Driver didn’t get out of van, just reached out of window to check if doors were open. We called it in, and followed at a distance. Once it stopped we got a picture of the van.
The License plate is: 01508 or 10508 – it was a specialty plate.
Shaun didn’t mention what part of West Seattle this happened in – we’re following up. (Update – Shaun says this was in Morgan Junction, and that they’ve since been told by police that the van was found and impounded, but no arrests so far.)
BROKEN WINDOW: In Admiral, two people reported seeing a broken window on a Jeep parked in the PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle (WSB sponsor) parking lot this morning, and “some contents” strewn outside.
And in the day’s biggest broken-glass incident:
ATM-THEFT AFTERMATH: We followed up with South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) about the considerable damage done by the ATM theft early this morning. SSC spokesperson Ty Swenson told WSB that the thief/thieves “seriously damaged” an external and internal set of entrance doorways made of glass. The north entrance of the Jerry Brockey Student Center was closed for several hours, and the missing sections of glass and door frame were boarded up:
By late morning, Swenson said they “were able to open the undamaged set of doors at the north entrance, so people can access the Brockey Center from the north. Load bearing pillars at the entrance were not damaged. Our facilities department is currently assessing the damage and working with a local glass supplier to get a bid. We do not have a solid timeline on the repair or cost at this time.” While they don’t have surveillance video of the actual theft, he said, they do have video of the truck that was involved, and we hope to have that for a Crime Watch update tomorrow.
(UPDATED 11:38 AM with new info from SPD)
(WSB photos. Added: ATM-theft scene outside SSC’s Brockey Center)
5:19 AM: As day breaks, police are following the trail of a stolen ATM. The cash machine was taken from South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) on Puget Ridge a few hours ago.
5:29 AM: The investigation has led police to a north Arbor Heights neighborhood where they have just recovered it.
5:45 AM: Police have pointed us to the backyard of a house at 39th SW and SW 97th, regarding where it was recovered – they say it’s the large white item in the background of our photo. And if you’re in AH, that’s a TV helicopter. No arrest(s) reported so far.
6:09 AM: Just talked to SPD spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson, who says officers are waiting on a search warrant before going in and actually taking possession of the stolen ATM. He says he can’t yet confirm what led police to the house; discussion we’d been monitoring for hours via scanner indicated it was a satellite tracking device, relatively new technology developed as ATM theft started to spike.
6:53 AM: Apparently at least one TV helicopter also has been over the theft scene on Puget Ridge, too. We expect a bit more information from police later this morning and will update when that’s in.
11:38 AM: And here’s that information! Just posted to SPD Blotter by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee:
Police recovered a stolen ATM from the backyard of a West Seattle home Tuesday after a thief in a pickup truck smashed his way into a college building and made off with a safe filled with cash.
Officers responded to South Seattle College in the 6000 block of 16th Avenue Southwest just before 2 AM after receiving reports of a break-in. At the scene, they found someone had broken through locked gate and driven a pickup truck through a glass door on campus to get to an ATM. After dismantling the cash machine, the thief loaded the ATM’s heavy-duty cash safe into their truck and fled.
Police found the unopened safe in the yard of a home in the 3900 block of Southwest 97th Street, where robbery detectives later detained and interviewed one male resident. Detectives released the man and continue to investigate the case.
Detectives are still looking for a white Chevrolet pickup truck with a crew cab, believed to have been used in the break-in at the college.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the SPD Southwest Precinct Burglary Unit at 206-233-2623.
Here’s a closer look at the item in the yard that we now know was the ATM’s safe:
1:21 PM: Police are in North Delridge right now, investigating reported gunfire. A texter told us about it just after 1 pm, saying they had called 911 and were told others had too. No victim reported, but police have been searching an alley west of Delridge Way, between Edmunds and Hudson, and other nearby areas including a stairway along Genesee.
1:54 PM: We went to the area in hopes of finding officers to ask what if anything they’d found, but they apparently had moved on. However, we did talk to a lieutenant here at Forest Lawn, where the Memorial Day ceremony is about to start; he says the initial report was someone with a revolver, in which case no shell casings would have been left behind.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports so far this weekend:
HIT-AND-RUN ON VIDEO: Multiple angles of surveillance video sent by a reader show a pickup truck sideswiping at least one vehicle at 16th/Henderson around 3:10 pm. (The last angle shows it most clearly.) If you have any information, the SPD incident number, as shown at the start of the video, is 2016-188993.
MAILBOX VANDALISM: A texter sent three photos of multiple-unit mailboxes hit by tagging vandalism in the 5900 block of California SW. All three were different styles, sizes, words, and colors. As we replied, police suggest photographing tagging/graffiti vandalism and uploading the photos with an online report – as explained here – or you can use the Find It Fix It app.
In West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon – that’s Susie‘s stolen silver 1996 Honda Civic, plate AYL2446. She says it was taken from 48th/Hinds [map] Wednesday night. As the SPD @getyourcarback tweet says, call 911 if you see it.
P.S. Auto-theft-deterrence advice, courtesy of the King County Sheriff’s Office, is up right now on our partner site White Center Now.
Car prowls, car prowls, car prowls – that’s what Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith just told the Highland Park Action Committee is that neighborhood’s biggest crime problem – like most other West Seattle neighborhoods: 145 in this area so far this year, compared to 46 in the same period last year. HP’s Westcrest Park is a hot spot, though not as much as Lincoln Park; Lt. Smith hailed the vigilant citizens who have stepped up keeping eyes on the park, and he encouraged people to keep reporting them, even if nothing was taken: “We need to report these crimes,” even if that means a jump in stats because more people are reporting what happens.
Also up this year over last: Robberies, especially along the southernmost boundary of Highland Park (SW Roxbury) – about a fourth of them were “shoplifting (incidents) gone bad.” Residential burglary is happening at about the same rate has last year, and “we’ve arrested one prolific burglar/car prowler recently, so hopefully we’ll see a reduction,” Lt. Smith noted, adding that non-residential burglary is down by more than half.
Still to come at HPAC, in our next report – city reps are here with their draft recommendation for what should be done with the city-owned Myers Way Parcels; we’ll have the details later tonight.
Gunfire and car prowls are West Seattle’s two biggest crime problems right now, police told the WS Block Watch Captains Network last night. And that’s what’s in our Crime Watch roundup this afternoon:
GUNFIRE NEAR LINCOLN PARK: A resident near the bottom of the Thistle stairway just east of Lincoln Park asked us this morning about gunshots overnight. On Tweets by Beat (which you can review any time on our Crime Watch page), the classification was “person with a gun.” We obtained the police-report narrative, which says officers checked out the reported gunfire after multiple 911 calls around quarter past 2, and found eight shell casings in the intersection of 46th SW/SW Thistle [map] – which is at the bottom of the aforementioned stairway. One caller heard a vehicle “speeding away northbound”; another saw “two males running through (a) backyard,” but there were no signs of property damage, and no gunshot victim(s) turned up anywhere. The police report says, “The shell casings were all marked GFL (Giulio Fiocchi) 9mm Luger.”
CAR PROWL NEAR GATEWOOD ELEMENTARY: From Sarah:
Our car, the one my 17-year-old son drives (an old 2000 Volvo station wagon) was broken into last night and two valuable items stolen. They smashed the rear passenger side cargo window.
The items stolen were very special to him. A Gibson Les Paul guitar with a purple paisley strap, and a Fender Twin Reverb Amp (’68 Custom). I’ve attached stock images of the items.
He’s learned a painful and expensive lesson: never leave valuables in the car!
And just as we were about to publish this report with the two items above, this came in:
JUNCTION CAR BREAK-INS: From Stacy:
Just an FYI – When I arrived at LA Fitness yesterday around 5:45 pm, there was a cop investigating the parking lot as at least three car windows were smashed and broken into. He was walking around telling everyone who parked what had just happened but since so many people work out there at different times- wanted to share with you guys to hopefully share with everyone. Remember if there is nothing in your car to steal, they won’t break in (coming from someone who had her car broken into no less than 3 times on the East Coast).
Advice from police modifies that somewhat – make sure it doesn’t even LOOK like something might be in the car (we’ve heard of car prowlers going through grocery bags that might have contained something).
During our periodic check of court files in cases we’re following, we just found out that a West Seattleite arrested and charged with murder in a shooting death near Sea-Tac has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge. We reported in December on the arrest of 39-year-old Aaron Parypa at his Junction-area home; he was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault for a deadly shooting in October that prosecutors said was preceded by an attempted marijuana sale. According to court documents, Parypa, who had no previous criminal history, pleaded guilty last Friday to the reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter. In a written statement accompanying his plea, he wrote, “Although I do not believe I am guilty of manslaughter because I acted in self-defense, I want to plead guilty to the charge to take advantage of the reduction of the charge and the prosecutor’s recommendation.” The same document lists the standard sentencing range as 21 to 27 months.
Tonight’s monthly meeting of the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network was low-key – more like a small-group conversation with police, and each other. Three updates of note:
GUNFIRE INCIDENTS: Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis reiterated that this is a big emphasis here right now. In terms of investigating, the focus is on data mining – he said the crime lab is examining fingerprints on recovered shells, and detectives are looking at the patterns. When that kind of information can be pulled together, gun use can be traced to certain offenders and certain incidents. In many cases, he said, those responsible can usually be tied to other activity such as gangs, drugs, or burglary rings, so they’re working with others around the city to try to ID who’s responsible.
CAR PROWLS: This too remains an emphasis, as mentioned at other recent meetings. One hotspot, Westcrest Park, now has warning signs about not leaving things in vehicles, an attendee mentioned.
RV CAMPERS: While the plan for a “safe lot” in West Seattle has long since been scrapped by the mayor’s office, as reported here, Capt. Davis said the precinct’s Community Police Team continues to monitor and deal with the RVs on West Seattle streets, including the group along Myers Way. Citywide, the trend is toward dispersal rather than clustering, he said, adding that West Seattle does not seem to be drawing a disproportionate number as the RVs scatter.
The West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meets fourth Tuesdays most months, 6:30 pm at the SW Precinct – watch wsblockwatchnet.wordpress.com for updates between meetings.
2:14 PM: Police say they arrested three people at Westwood Village last night in connection with a bicycle stolen downtown and listed for sale online. Here’s what Jonah Spangenthal-Lee posted on SPD Blotter this afternoon:
Officers arrested a trio of suspects at a West Seattle shopping center Monday after they tried to sell police a pricey bike stolen days earlier from REI’s flagship store.
On May 21st, a masked suspect made their way into a fenced, gated area at REI’s flagship store in the 200 block of Yale Avenue and made off with a $2,700 black and neon green Ghost Kato bike.
A few days later, REI staff found an ad for a Ghost Kato bike on Craigslist. The ad listed the bike at $1,500, describing it as “brand new” and “ready to be picked up.” “Serious inquiries only!!!,” the seller wrote.
REI staff sent the ad to police, and Southwest Precinct Anti-Crime Team Officer Ernie Debella got in touch with the seller and set up a Monday night meeting.
Around 6 PM, police were waiting at the Westwood Village shopping center when the suspects – a 29-year-old woman and two men, 28 and 40 years old – arrived in a cab. The trio pulled the bike out of the cab’s trunk and began scouring the lot, as if they were looking for police.
Officers contacted the group, confirmed the bike was the same one stolen days earlier, and booked the men and woman into the King County Jail for trafficking stolen property.
We’re checking to see if we can find out more about the suspects’ status.
ADDED 4 PM: According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the three were released from today’s bail-hearing calendar – the 28-year-old man is getting out of jail, but the other two suspects are still being held on unrelated warrants, the 40-year-old man for failure to appear in a theft case – a $10,000 warrant – and the 29-year-old woman, for a $2,500 warrant related to failing to appear in a “false reporting” case.
A few more details this afternoon about two incidents mentioned here late Saturday/early Sunday, after we asked Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith about both:
DELRIDGE SHOOTING: As reported here early Sunday, a man showed up at Harborview Medical Center saying he had been shot near his residence in the 4700 block of Delridge Way SW. Lt. Smith says the victim drives a “party bus” and reported parking it near his residence, then being approached by someone while walking home, and getting into an argument. During the clash, he told police, the other man pulled out a gun and shot him in the left thigh. No arrest so far.
HIGH POINT GUNFIRE: We originally reported on this late Saturday night. Multiple 911 callers reported hearing gunshots; police quickly traced it to the 6500 block of Sylvan Way SW, and linked it to an earlier 911 call in which someone said their neighbor had threatened to shoot them. Near the residence where that happened, Lt. Smith says, they found 14 shell casings from what might have been two different 9mm guns. No injuries; no arrests so far.
Separate from the High Point investigation reported earlier, police are looking into a report that someone was shot earlier tonight in North Delridge. The over-the-air report was that someone had shown up at Harborview with a gunshot wound (how serious, we don’t know, but the victim apparently was conscious) and claimed to have been shot somewhere near where they live, possibly in the Delridge/Alaska vicinity. No other details so far.
11:33 PM: Police are checking out reports of possible gunfire heard in High Point, possibly south of 31st SW and SW Graham. We’ve heard from one person who says 911 tells her – as we’ve also heard via scanner – that others reported it, too. No word of any victim(s) so far.
11:36 PM: Also via scanner, police report finding shell casings in the 6500 block of Sylvan Way, potentially related to a call in the area in which someone reported being threatened (by someone they knew). They’re looking for two women reportedly seen leaving the area. We haven’t heard a description.
12:19 PM: Police now are being called to another nearby address, on 32nd SW, where someone is reporting finding a bullet hole.
We heard it again at community meetings this past week – “car prowls,” aka car break-ins, remain the major crime category in our area. We don’t get incident details unless you share info with us, though, so thanks to Matt for this reader report:
Just in case you wanted to add it to the list, we had 2 of our cars broken into Thursday night on the 4400 block of SW Graham St.
Purse stolen from one of the cars and….. 4 tennis rackets, what a score!
P.S. Next crime prevention/safety meeting will be Tuesday, 6:30 pm, when the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meets at the Southwest Precinct – all welcome, whether you are part of a Block Watch or not!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A sunny Friday could bring another summer-size crowd to Alki Beach tonight. So you might be interested to know what Seattle Police told the Alki Community Council last night about what they’re up to.
The meeting started with a briefing, including crime stats, from Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith. He said assaults are up slightly from this time last year, with this year’s incidents including the shooting near Whale Tail Park back on April 30th. Residential burglaries are up – 11 in the area through this time last year, 15 this year. But property crimes in the Alki area are down 15 percent – with relatively few car prowls compared to some other areas of West Seattle and the rest of the city. And overall, he said, crime is down 11 percent.
For Alki Beach concerns in general, according to Lt. Smith, they started an “emphasis” a couple weeks ago – 4 officers working extra hours walking or riding bicycles on Friday/Saturday nights.
Yesterday we published an alert from an Arbor Heights mom who wanted to let families know that her daughter had been followed from a Denny International Middle School-dropoff stop at 100th/44th on Tuesday. This afternoon, Denny principal Jeff Clark has sent us the notice sent home today to families of students at his school and adjacent Chief Sealth International High School:
Dear Denny and Chief Sealth Scholars and Families,
Yesterday afternoon, one of our 6th grade female scholars reported to us that she was followed by a man in his car while she walked home from her bus stop in Arbor Heights near the intersection of SW 100th St. and 44th Ave SW. She reported that the man seemed to be in his 20s and had short black hair. His car was a black four-door sedan. Our scholar did a great job by running off and telling her mother, who contacted the Seattle Police Department.
As a precaution, we are reminding our scholars about safety tips for walking to and from school. We would appreciate your help by having a similar conversation at home. The walking safety advice includes:
GENERAL SAFETY TIPS
· Pay close attention to your surroundings, avoid “automatic pilot.”· Walk with a purpose; project an assertive, business-like image.
· Use common sense; plan your route to avoid uninhabited parks, parking lots, garages and alleyways.
· Stick to well-lit areas.
· Develop a plan before you see trouble. Crossing a street or entering a store may get you out of a potentially bad situation.
· If a car follows you or beckons you while you are walking, do not approach it. Instead, turn and quickly walk the opposite direction.
· Consider wearing clothing and shoes that you can move freely and quickly in, especially when walking or waiting for the bus.
· Carry minimal items; overloading yourself can make you appear vulnerable.
· Always plan your route and stay alert to your surroundings. Avoid shortcuts. Walk confidently. Scan your surroundings and make eye contact with people.
· Avoid walking alone at night. As much as possible, walk or travel with a friend, even during the daytime.
As always, thank you for your help and partnership!
Just sent to us by Sabrina, who wanted to make sure other parents know to alert their kids:
Neighborhood alert: My daughter was followed by a man in a black sedan walking home from the Denny bus dropoff at 100th/44th in Arbor Heights on Tuesday.
Description of driver: black, thin, black short hair, 20-30 years old, smoker.
Police and school notified. Police with be patrolling before and after school at and around this stop. The officers were confident this creep would be back as he has picked a target.
Here are safety tips offered by Seattle Police.
It was not a good night to be visiting West Seattle, apparently. First, friends visiting Oliver at California/Massachusetts in North Admiral were the victim of bike theft – two bikes taken from a rack on their car:
I had a couple friends in town, they had (the bikes) locked to a bike rack (on a car) but the thief/thieves dismantled it last night or early this morning. The first one is a Fuji SLM 1.0 size small/medium, black and white mountain bike with a white Magura fork and Reynolds carbon wheels and Bontrager seat with a carbon frame and an integrated seat post. The second is a Niner SIR 9 size large, gold/copper color, with black Rockshox SID fork, carbon handlebars and seatpost, and Arch EX wheels.
That’s the one in the photo – they don’t have a photo of the other one. Let police know, and comment here, if you see either or both.
Also last night, another case of hit-run driver vs. parked cars. This time on Erskine Way just west of California, on the southwest side of The Junction: Seattle Police tell us six cars in all were reported to have been damaged – this happened around 2 am but we found some still along the street in clear sight long after sunrise – two are in our daylight photo following the overnight photo texted to us:
The texter said a roommate’s friend was visiting from Bainbridge and reported:
Woke up around 2 am to sounds of my car and about 5 others being completely smashed…the obviously drunk driver finally left his truck and took off on foot.
Police confirmed this afternoon that no one’s been arrested, though the “suspect vehicle” eventually was found, abandoned.
Finally, someone trying doors in Highland Park this morning was caught on video. Lawrence shares two clips from his home surveillance cameras:
And the second one has a slightly better look at the door-tryer (plus description information if you follow that link to the clip’s YouTube page).
Car prowlers who hit a neighborhood west of Morgan Junction apparently had no use for CDs. It’s a complicated story – this is from the first note we received from Grant:
On the morning on Tuesday, May 17, a neighbor in the Beveridge-Holly neighborhood (off Fauntleroy near California) found a container of CDs abandoned in front of her mailbox. The container holds ~10 CDs and they are mostly from a “Golden Age of Country” disc set. I also found three abandoned CDs on my yard waste bin. Suspecting car prowlers abandoning loot, I checked my security camera footage and found that at 3:37 am, three drunken-appearing men deposited a vodka bottle in my recycling bin and these three CDs on top of my yard waste bin.
A neighbor confirmed these are her CDs and so the men in the video who abandoned them are almost certainly car prowlers.
That neighbor subsequently said those were empty CD cases. So far, no one in the neighborhood has spoken up for the other CDs – but the neighbor who did ID the CDs recognized something else in the video: A white box that had contained comic books and some paperwork from her job, all of which was taken from her vehicle.
Then, Grant contacted us again before we finished writing this, to say yet another neighbor found this tossed-aside garage-door opener:
If you have any clues about the unclaimed CDs or opener, or the identity of the people in the video – please speak up.
P.S. Car prowls remain the top crime problem in our area, Southwest Precinct Capt. Pierre Davis told the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council again last night (here’s our story in case you missed it).
In Crime Watch this afternoon – Marie‘s bike has been missing since Saturday:
My bike was stolen from my apartment building at 2250 Bonair Pl SW near Alki Beach. The bike was in the laundry room in a secured building. The robber would have had to wait until the door was propped or had a key. The Kona was a gray mountain bike with “hybrid” tires. The bar handles had scratches.
Bicycles are often stolen to get from crime to crime, so you might spot one dumped somewhere, down a ravine, against a pole or fence – if you do, contact police.
P.S. Speaking of police, last call for tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, 7 pm at the SW Precinct (2300 SW Webster) – come hear about local crime trends and ask about your neighborhood concerns.
Four reader reports from the weekend in West Seattle Crime Watch, plus a reminder about this month’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting:
INSTRUMENTS STOLEN: Another case of musical instruments stolen from a car. They may well already be up for sale somewhere – that’s what happened in another recent case – so Brandon, who plays in a band called Black Bone Exorcism, hopes you’ll be on the lookout. Here’s the flyer including his contact info. He says the gear all has “stickers and marker spots for settings …” A police report is filed.
TOOLS STOLEN: Leschi residents visiting West Seattle report that their Toyota Tacoma parked in the Les Schwab parking lot at Fauntleroy/Alaska was broken into on Saturday night “and approximately $2,000 of tools (were stolen) and some items of little monetary value but lots of sentimental value. Please be on the lookout for these that might have been tossed aside. Name ‘Solem’ written on some.”
WINDOW BROKEN: Late last night, around 10 pm, somebody broke a window on Reed’s car at 11th/Barton. “Nothing stolen, just a broken window. Filed a police report.”
SIDESWIPES: This might be a warning as much as anything else, Adam reports, if you park in this area:
Within the last week, I have seen 3 or 4 different instances of sideswipes of parked cars within one block of The Sanctuary (Lander and 42nd).
There were two (recently) that seemed a little bizarre. Both were on 41st Ave SW between Lander and Admiral. Police were on the scene at about 7:15 am when I drove by. What makes it strange is it seemed like the parked cars rammed into the cars parked in front of them and it didn’t seem like those cars were hit from behind. Both instances were on different ends of the block. Another instance was on Lander at the Safeway. The other happened in front of the Sanctuary on 42nd Ave SW.
WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL TOMORROW NIGHT: 7 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, May 17th) is the monthly meeting at the Southwest Precinct with your chance to hear about local crime trends and bring concerns to Seattle Police. WSCPC president Richard Miller also usually books a guest and this time, it’s a rep from city code compliance – which relates to issues including “nuisance houses.” The precinct is at 2300 SW Webster.
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