West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
(WSB photos from Saturday morning)
3:15 PM: We’re just out of the jailhouse courtroom downtown, where the 25-year-old West Seattle man arrested hours after Saturday morning’s 23rd SW double shooting has just had a bail hearing. After multiple reports of gunfire, police say, they found two men in the street – a 24-year-old who was dead at the scene, and a 34-year-old man who survived, but with life-threatening injuries. After a short hearing, the judge set bail at $1 million; the defense argued for $100,000, noting that (as reported here Saturday) the suspect has no felony convictions; he is currently being prosecuted for a drunk-driving arrest. We don’t yet have the probable-cause documents, which are likely to have some information on what led police to arrest this man blocks away from the shooting scene; once we do, we’ll update this story.
3:29 PM: Moments after we published this, the probable-cause documents came in. They say the suspect and the victim who was killed were former friends who had been in a dispute for five years over a $200 debt. The victim, according to court documents, called his brother, who also is described as part of the debt dispute, to say the suspect “had, or was about to jump him” at the scene where the shooting later happened. The brother had been downtown but rushed to the scene, where he first saw the suspect’s car, a white Ford Crown Victoria (which was impounded at the arrest scene on Saturday morning):
The brother said it was thought that a fight was going to happen – instead, he told police, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it at him, so he ran, saying he then heard gunfire, and when he went back to the scene, officers were there, and the victim was lying in the street. The documents go on to say that police were familiar with the suspect and his car and knew that he lived in the 2600 block of SW Holden; they got a warrant to search the car and house. The car, found at the house, had gunshot damage. The court documents also say that while police were there, the suspect called, talked to his mother and to them, and said he would return to turn himself in, admitting he’d been involved in the shooting, and saying he had used a .40 caliber Glock handgun. Detectives say they found “several guns” in the house, including one of that type. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to file charges.
While recent days have brought major cases to West Seattle Crime Watch, the bulk of crimes in our area remain property crimes, and we have three reader reports to share tonight.
CAR PROWL: Rachel reports, “We are in the 8100 block of 24th Ave SW and our truck was broken into in our driveway. Non-damage, but they stole some men’s Ray-Ban sunglasses and our brand=new baby bag that had some clothes and diapers from our newborn. I know it’s a total long shot, but here is a picture of the bag in case anyone finds it. It was a gift and the best bag.”
ANOTHER CAR PROWL: Dale says, “Early Sunday morning, someone broke the side window of our small SUV. The alarm may have scared them off as nothing was taken. This is near 36th and Juneau. We’ve filed a report with the police.”
BURGLARY: From Kayla:
While I live slightly outside of West Seattle limits, I have friends who have seen the suspect vehicle all over Alaska Junction and want to get the word out.
My home (in the 10200 block of) 24th Ave SW was burglarized at 3:30 PM on Wednesday the 21st. My neighbor witnessed a white male, medium build, about 5’11”, in a metallic gold Toyota 4Runner parked in front of my home, which is sheltered and down a long driveway. He smashed my back door window to get in. Stole a safe with Social Security cards, birth certificates, passports, checks, credit cards, and wills. There was also an extensive collection of foreign currency and a key to each of our cars. Outside the safe he stole my class ring- silver with a pink stone and a picture of crossed tennis rackets, and my school’s mascot, an Indian. It was from Sterling High School class of 2003. There was also a medium K-bar knife and a gold ring with purple stones. I would appreciate it being posted in case anyone finds my things.
NEXT CRIME-PREVENTION MEETING: Tuesday (October 27) is the last meeting of the year for the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network – you don’t have to be a BW captain (or in a BW at all) to attend; all are welcome. 6:30 pm at the Southwest Precinct, 2300 SW Webster.
(UPDATED 11 AM with confirmation of arrest)
(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 5:19 AM: Two people were shot in West Seattle early this morning; one did not survive. It happened before 2 am in the 6900 block of 23rd SW (map). Multiple 911 callers reported hearing gunfire; police say officers found the victims lying in the street. One was dead at the scene; the other was taken to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. No arrests reported so far; homicide detectives ask that anyone with information call 206-233-5000.
This is the first deadly shooting in West Seattle since December 31st, 2013, when 40-year-old Stephen Jeffries, Jr., was killed in the 9200 block of 16th SW, a murder that remains unsolved.
5:46 AM UPDATE: Detectives are still at the scene (photo above), where we just spoke with Homicide Unit Capt. Steve Paulsen. He tells WSB the victims are both men in their 20s, and that investigators believe an “altercation” preceded the gunfire. They’re still looking for others who might have been involved.
11 AM: More than two hours after a SWAT operation at 26th and Holden – less than a mile from the shooting scene – that resulted in one man being detained, police are confirming that a suspect in the shooting is in custody. We’re still working to confirm details.
1:44 PM: As we noted in the comment discussion, we’ve since found via other court documents that the 25-year-old man in jail right now for investigation of homicide lives or has lived at the 26th/Holden house where police converged this morning. He does not have a felony record; he was charged in connection with a nearby street robbery in 2009 but the case was dismissed. We might not find out much more before Monday but we’re still looking.
ADDED LATE SATURDAY NIGHT: We have learned a little about the man who was killed. We don’t know whether next of kin have all been notified, so we aren’t identifying him at this point, but he was 24, had a culinary career – working at a downtown restaurant – and was an alum of West Seattle High School. We are also told the man who survived is 34, not in his 20s as police had told us, but we don’t yet know anything more about him.
In West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon – police are investigating what they believe was a pellet-gun shooting along Alki Avenue SW. The victim was injured around quarter past 1 this afternoon in the 1500 block of Alki SW. Police have no victim or suspect description so far. We’re still checking for more info on this. (Update: We’ve heard from the victim in comments.)
This afternoon we also have reader reports from the WSB inbox, starting with something else in the Alki area:
DIAPER BAG FOUND WITH CAR PROWL LOOT: Althea reports, “A black Marc and Jacobs diaper bag was found this morning in an alley near my house. A bike and wallet were also found. The wallet was taken from my car and returned to me but we are still looking for the owner of the diaper bag. We live near Alki Elementary.”
CARS VANDALIZED: Tuesday night, acid was poured on cars near 47th and Charlestown, according to a neighbor who forwarded the report.
CAR PROWLS: Sara says 48th SW in Seaview was hit on Tuesday:
I saw the burglar at 2:45 am getting into my neighbor’s SUV. He had a silver sedan with curved or slanted back. I’m not a car person, but it looks a bit like either an older Pinto or a mid-’80s Ford Escort. It looked like a man, med build, tall, was wearing knit cap, leather jacket over sweater, and jeans. Couldn’t tell anything else. Had flashlight and was looking around inside my neighbor’s car while he left his own car running. Tapped on glass. He heard something and took off fast, heading south down 48th. Note: I should not have disturbed him. I should have called 911 while he was in car. Called police after and they were quick to respond, but we might have caught him in the act if I hadn’t disturbed him.
CRIME-TREND ‘DASHBOARD’: You might have heard about this in citywide news – announced yesterday, but we didn’t get a chance to mention it. The SPD “Crime Data Dashboard” is a new way to check crime trends and data. It’s explained in this SPD Blotter item; find the dashboard, filterable by neighborhood, here.
(SCROLL DOWN for additional video that appears to show fire-setting)
Just in from Seattle Police – video showing a “person of interest” in two of the West Seattle arsons, near 35th SW and SW Morgan:
Detectives have obtained video footage of a person of interest in the first two fires on October 12th. In that incident, two fires were set near the 3500 block of SW Morgan Street. The footage, recorded shortly before 2:30 AM on the 12th, shows an individual dressed in black and carrying a black bag walking toward the bus shelter, where the first fire was set. The surveillance camera did not capture the individual’s face, but police believe the person is a white or light-skinned male. Detectives are hoping someone out there will recognize the person’s clothing or may have seen him in West Seattle around the time of the fires.
If you have any information about this person or this case, please contact detectives at 206-684-8980 or call 911.
Screen grab (click image for larger view):
If you’ve missed previous coverage of the arsons, full backstory is in our “where it stands” report from Wednesday, to which we also added our video of what Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis told the Morgan Community Association last night.
5:54 PM UPDATE: In the past hour or so, SPD has substituted in its blotter post a longer clip for the original :12 one you see above. This one shows the actual fire-lighting:
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
CAR-PROWL LOOT TO LOOK FOR: From Janet:
Someone broke into our car in the 6000 block on 42nd between Monday night and Tuesday morning and stole a GPS and 3 big bright blue bags containing ‘Begin with Books’ for kids that we had borrowed from the library. And a French 1 dvd, ‘Little Pim’ Eating and Drinking.
If anyone sees this, could they please return them to the library on our behalf? We were told that the thieves might just throw them in the bushes so we be in the lookout for them once they realize the bags had books in them.
MORE CAR PROWLS: From Barb:
3 of my neighbors have had their cars broken into at overnight in the last 4 weeks. 6900 block of 37th Ave SW. One of the cars was actually unlocked and the registration to the car was stolen. Another neighbor reported he found some of his missing items down the block. Seems like we have some bad mojo in Gatewood happening between the car prowls and the fires. Please let people know to be on the lookout for anything strange.
BREAK-IN: From Patricia:
Just want folks to know that there was a break-in (Monday) in North Admiral – during the day. Perpetrators barged through a chain ‘hold’ device on the door, and then broke the glass of an inside entry door with a hammer. Stole a bike, checkbook (later tried to cash a check at Bank of America in the main Junction), and also jewelry. Reported to police.
Finally, an **update**:
SFD AT TONIGHT’S CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL MEETING: Update from West Seattle Crime Prevention Council president Richard Miller about tonight’s meeting – Seattle Fire Engine 11’s crew has just been confirmed as the guest. Got a question about SFD? Come ask. And bring your neighborhood crime concerns for local SPD. 7 pm, Southwest Precinct, Webster/Delridge.
Whether it’s the arsons or some other concern that you’d like to ask and/or hear about, we’ve just confirmed that the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting IS on for tomorrow night (Tuesday, October 20th) at the Southwest Precinct, 7 pm. This is your one guaranteed chance each month to hear local crime trends firsthand from West Seattle police and to bring up anything that’s been going on in your neighborhood. The meeting room is next to the parking lot, which is off SW Webster just west of Delridge Way SW.
9:20 AM: We’re at King County Superior Court, where accused toddler killer Alicia Goemaat has just appeared for arraignment. In the brief hearing, she pleaded not guilty, and a date was set for her to return to court in two weeks; nothing else was said. As reported here two weeks ago, she is charged with second-degree murder for kicking her boyfriend’s 17-month-old son Drue Lehto (family photo at left) so hard, he suffered fatal internal injuries. He died at the Morgan Junction apartment where Goemaat had lived for about half a year with Drue’s father and with her own son, a few months older than Drue. 
Goemaat remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.
ADDED 10:28 AM: At right, we’ve added our courtroom photo of Goemaat, who is 20 years old, from this morning’s hearing. She was arrested at the apartment on October 1st, four days after Drue was found dead in his crib; court documents say she confessed to placing him there after kicking him twice, the first time so hard that he was knocked down, because, she said, she was mad that he and her son were fighting over a toy. Her next court appearance is set for November 3rd. This is the first West Seattle murder case in more than a year and a half.
(SCROLL DOWN for midday updates – SEPARATE COVERAGE OF AFTERNOON FLAREUP IS HERE)
6:12 AM: Another arson in the High Point area this morning – second morning in a row. As you can see in our photo, “arson” is the declaration on the sign that’s up at the Seattle Housing Authority-operated office on the northeast corner of 35th and Holly [map] after someone set a fire outside its basement entrance on the Holly side just after 3 am. No one was hurt. Seattle Police and Fire investigators are looking into this; it happened less than 24 hours after two cars were set ablaze in the Sylvan Ridge area on the southeast edge of High Point, about half a mile away, though there’s no word on whether this is related – we’ll be following up on that later this morning, and also re-inquiring about the 35th/Austin (ex-Red Star Pizza) fire early Thursday. Back to this morning’s fire – staffers are already at the office cleaning up after water damage and boarding a window; they say it will be open for business today.
11:16 AM: The building is also where the High Point Masjid As Sunnah mosque meets. We stopped again at the scene to check on the cleanup, and staff told us the SHA office side is what was damaged, not the mosque’s area.
SPD tells us they’ll have information to release later this hour, so we’ll have another update coming up.
11:39 AM: Here’s what SPD has just released via its “blotter,” saying they’re not seeing a connection so far between what happened this morning and what happened early Sunday:
Seattle police responded with Seattle fire to three intentionally set fires over the weekend in the High Point Neighborhood in West Seattle.
Police and firefighters responded to the 2700 block of SW Sylvan Heights on Sunday around 4:45 AM after receiving a report of two cars on fire.
Both vehicles were parked on the street and suffered significant damage before the flames were extinguished.
In a separate incident about 24 hours later, officers and firefighters responded to a fire in an entryway of a commercial building in the 6500 block of 35 Ave SW around 3:30 AM Monday. The fire caused exterior damage to the lower level of the building as well interior damage as the flames passed through a broken window.
SPD arson detectives are investigating the two incidents, but say they have not found anything connecting the cases. Police do not currently believe Monday’s fire on 35th Ave SW was set with the intent of targeting any of the tenants of three offices on the property.
Detectives are working with the Seattle Fire Department and our federal partners at ATF on these cases. If you have any information about these incidents, please call 911.
11:52 AM: We just called to doublecheck with SPD to be sure that by “three intentionally set fires” they meant the two cars plus this morning’s fire, not something additional, and Officer Lauren Lovanhill says yes, that’s what it means. She also confirms that the ex-Red Star Pizza fire from last week is NOT considered arson nor related in any way. (Later, SFD told us SPD is investigating that fire, though, because of its proximity.)
3:01 PM: If you haven’t seen our later story yet – fire broke out at this building again an hour ago, bringing a huge callout. We are covering this separately – go here.
Maybe you’ll find this stolen bicycle dumped in the bushes somewhere – that’s what happens to so many stolen bikes. From Kathleen:
Unfortunately today my 14 year old brother rode his bike to the Delridge Library and left it unlocked when he went inside and it was gone when he came out. It’s a red and white Trek bicycle in an older youth size. Sadly it was the last gift our mom gave him before she passed away of cancer so it also has great sentimental value. I’ve reported it to the police but we don’t have a picture or serial number so it’s a long shot to get it back. Hopefully someone will see it somewhere.
(WSB photos)
9:28 AM: Two cars are seriously damaged after someone set them on fire in Sylvan Ridge, east of High Point, early this morning.
It happened around 4:40 am; the cars were parked in front of townhouses in the 2700 block of Sylvan Heights Drive [map]. Residents tell WSB the fire was set in some kind of container placed under the cars:
He also showed us damage inside his car, in the back seat, which held a car seat, not seen in our photo because the fire even triggered an airbag:
No one was hurt; another resident tells us the other burned car belongs to friends who were visiting from out of town, and she says fast action by neighbors kept the flames from spreading to nearby townhomes, which don’t have much setback from the street. This happened four days after an early-morning car fire at 30th and Graham, half a mile away; we never got final word on the cause of that one, but we’re checking with police about this morning’s fires and will be asking again about that one too.
12:50 PM UPDATE: Just talked with SPD spokesperson Officer Lauren Lovanhill. The 30th/Graham fire last week was NOT related – she says that report is in the system now and says the car owner was at the scene and told officers it seemed to be a mechanical problem that sparked when he was trying to start his car. She says that while the SPD Arson/Bomb Squad was notified about this morning’s incident, they didn’t go to the scene, so the investigation is in the hands of local officers, as well as the SFD investigator (Marshal 5), who did respond; no witnesses, so they have no suspect description(s) so far.
4:31 PM: With two-plus weeks until Halloween, vandals went on an early rampage:
(Photo courtesy Nicole)
We’ve received multiple reports today of vandalism including pumpkins taken from doorsteps and yards and smashed in the street, and decorations (such as the headless skeleton, above) stolen and dumped, along streets both east and west of California, from at least 42nd SW to 49th SW, between roughly Hinds and Genesee. The skeleton, we’re told, has been claimed, but a few more items are still waiting to be found by their owners – Lara sent these photos of a metal pumpkin and Seahawks wreath that turned up on her block, near 42nd and Charlestown:
If you’re missing something, let us know so we can add it.
ADDED 5:44 PM: The photo and report are from Stephanie:
I wanted to add a photo to your article in regards to vandalism that occurred on Genesee Hill last night. Looks like they snatched a stroller to use for pumpkin transportation. There is a pumpkin stem in the seat. Hopefully someone will recognize this Bob stroller abandoned mid block on the west side of the street on 45th between Andover and Dakota. It is a faded lavender color.
FRIDAY P.S. Don’t miss the comments – in which the culprits are reported to have apologized.
One brief West Seattle Crime Watch reader report … we’ve heard from another recent burglary victim. Sorayah in Morgan Junction reports, “My roommate and I had our house burglarized (Tuesday). They came in through our living room window, completely trashed the place, and stole a bunch of items. We live on the 6500 block of 42nd Ave SW.”
Just got the photo via text from Aaron:
My “new” 1986 Toyota pickup I just bought and restored was just stolen from in front of my house at 44th and Dakota. License #C09191E.
If you see it – call 911 and refer to incident # 15-359078.
In West Seattle Crime Watch today – another burglary report:
I’d like to get the word out that my home on Fairmount Ave SW was burglarized yesterday during the daytime while my roommates were at work. I arrived home from a trip to see they broke a window in the kitchen & had stolen items from each of my roommates.
David says his house is toward the water end of Fairmount Ave. With reports of three other burglaries in recent days, we took the occasion today to check the SPD Police Report map, sorted for burglary reports, showing nine:
You can sort the map by crime type via controls on its left side (click the image above to go to the live map, where you can also see the locations of these and other crimes, plus time/date reported, by clicking each icon). But as we’ve noted in the past, the map has some omissions – for example, it’s not showing the business break-in in the 3400 block of California SW that was part of our coverage on Saturday. It’s not caught up with yesterday yet, so David’s break-in isn’t shown. And from Tweets by Beat (you can see the West Seattle sectors’ tweets any time on the WSB Crime Watch page), we also have these four:
-Reported this morning, 3200 block SW Morgan
-Reported last night, 9600 block 47th SW
-Reported Monday afternoon, 4400 block 42nd SW
-Reported Monday morning, 2nd SW/SW Michigan
So, by our compilation, that’s 15 burglaries reported in the past week, up from where things were trending at the last West Seattle-wide briefing.
As promised, we’ve followed up today on Sunday morning’s burglary in the 8200 block of California SW, with a nearby resident seeing it happen and calling it in, but police not arriving until after the burglar was gone.
The 911 call was made at 11 am, as we reported on Sunday – the witness has record of that on a cell phone screen. The first officer to arrive at the house was shortly after quarter past – we happened to see it firsthand, because we are based a few blocks south and happened to be heading out on an errand at the time.
Here’s what SPD told us happened in the meantime.
*The dispatch went out at 11:03. An officer was headed to the house by 11:09.
*Before arrival, police got word the burglar(s) had left (11:14, the witness said), and so instead of proceeding immediately to the house, they tried to find the vehicle, using the description and plate (Washington AWB5824 – here’s a photo from the witness):
As the witness told us, they spotted a car they believed to be the vehicle, and they tried to pull it over – but the driver didn’t stop, and proceeded “in an unsafe manner,” as SPD put it, so officers were told to terminate the pursuit, which is SPD policy if it’s believed to be a threat to public safety. From the SPD pursuit policy, which you can read in full here:
…3. Officers Will Not Pursue Without Justification
The circumstances justifying the decision to pursue an eluding vehicle must be articulable at the time the officer initiates the pursuit.
Officers will not pursue solely for any one of the following:
– Traffic violations / Civil Infractions
– Misdemeanors
– Gross misdemeanors
– Property crimes
– The act of eluding alone4. Officers Will Cease Pursuit When the Risk of the Pursuit Outweighs the Danger to the Public if the Suspect is not Captured
Following up on one other point from our original story – the SPD spokesperson with whom we spoke hadn’t seen anything about the mention of “shift change” and did not think that was related. The case is open, SPD verifies, and detectives have “good information” to follow up on.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:
GATEWOOD BURGLARY: For at least the third time this weekend, there was a burglary on California SW. We reported Saturday on two business break-ins, in The Junction and South Admiral; today, burglars hit in Gatewood, in the 8200 block of California SW. A neighbor reports seeing the burglars break in and carry out “duffel bags and TVs” while the victims were away on an errand; the neighbor called 911, but the burglars were gone before police arrived. The neighbor called 911 at 11 am; she says police arrived after the burglars left at 11:14. (We happened to see the first car pull up, as this is a couple blocks away from WSB HQ and we were passing by.) The neighbor says the 911 operator mentioned “shift change” as a complication; we don’t know what else was happening in the sector at the time, as we were away from the scanner, but we’ll be following up with SPD tomorrow.
CAR PROWL: Karen e-mailed today to say that “our car was broken into Friday night. It was in front of our house on Hanford St SW, near 36th Ave. They smashed the passenger side window but we didn’t have anything worth taking, luckily.”
ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:32 AM: An unpleasant surprise for the proprietors of Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) as they arrived this morning to get their shop ready to open for the day – someone broke in overnight. “Not very much” was stolen, Click! proprietor John Smersh reports; they’ve been cleaning up to get on with the day – and the night, since, as noted in our daily preview, this is Click!’s 11th anniversary and they’re planning a 5-8 pm party. That’s definitely still on, John says, so they hope to see you there.
P.S. Because of the cleanup, they’re not opening for the day until 1 pm.
ADDED 3:39 PM: John had said a police officer told them another business, in South Admiral on California SW, had been broken into early today as well. We couldn’t find it on the SPD map or in Tweets By Beat at the time but have since learned via a reader tip that it happened at the live-work offices in the 3400 block of California SW.
4 PM: We have since heard directly from the burglarized business, Guenther Group, confirming theirs was the business broken into by someone who smashed through the front door (in Click!’s case, it was the rear) early this morning.
Nine months ago, 33-year-old Emanuel Kozma was found in a treehouse, where he’d tried to hide from police searching for him in connection with package and mail thefts in Alki. He subsequently was charged with three felonies and has been in jail since his original arrest on January 8th. Last month, a jury found him guilty of theft; today, he was sentenced – and is about to go free, having been sentenced to what amounted to time served.
In addition to the theft case, Kozma also had pleaded guilty to two other charges – one, a plea bargain that brought the burglary charge in the Alki case down to criminal trespass, the other in a case for which he had a warrant out for his arrest when caught in Alki. In that case, he pleaded guilty to felony harassment. Charging documents in that case say he had threatened to shoot and kill an 18-year-old woman who was described as a friend, when she avoided responding to his requests to drive him to a probation appointment. The threat happened near Kozma’s home in White Center in the summer of 2014.
Court documents say Kozma’s criminal record – with three and a half pages of convictions – goes back 20 years, to age 12, with what’s described as “numerous misdemeanors and felonies” along the way, including harassment, assault, indecent exposure, and weapons charges. Today, Judge Dean Lum sentenced Kozma to a year in jail, suspended while he is monitored for two years, plus what amounted to the time he’s served since the January arrest, 274 days. He’s still on the King County Jail Register right now, but court documents say the judge signed the order for his release (a drug warrant from Everett is still listed on the register, and it’s not clear whether that’s been resolved, so we’ll continue checking on his post-sentencing status). The photo above, by the way, is the most recent one the state Corrections Department had when we requested it after his arrest.
(WSB photo from Saturday)
The 18-year-old arrested in connection with last Saturday’s house fire on 31st Place SW is now charged with second-degree arson. Ezekiel M. Hoskins was arrested blocks away from the scene of the fire, less than two hours later. Charging documents include the same details we reported the day of his bail hearing, that his girlfriend said they had argued earlier in the day and that he had threatened to set the house on fire. Police say he told them he was smoking in the house that afternoon and that his discarded cigarettes might have ignited the fire, but he denied deliberately setting it; court documents say he was seen walking away from the house before an explosion that preceded the fire. While his girlfriend was quoted as telling investigators that Hoskins lived in the house, which had belonged to a relative, charging papers say he told police he had been living elsewhere with his aunt, but that they were unable to verify it. Also, while we couldn’t find a criminal record for him in previous checks, the court documents say that as a juvenile, Hoskins had two robbery convictions in the past two years. Before SFD cleared Saturday’s fire scene, a firefighter suffered a hand injury and had to be taken to the hospital. Damage to the house and its contents is estimated at $105,000; Hoskins remains in the King County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
This marble bench graced ARK Park at 42nd SW and SW 102nd in Arbor Heights, in memory of a little life lost, until a heartbreaking discovery: Someone has stolen it. They had to have known it was a memorial, given this plaque:
Allexandra Ramona Kimball is the park’s namesake and inspiration; as noted here in 2009, the first anniversary of her birthdate was the day ground was broken for the park. While the land is owned by neighboring Arbor Heights Community Church – which also operates ARK Preschool in her memory – it was created for the entire neighborhood, and has been the site of block parties and other celebrations. The bench is described as “irreplaceable to those who were affected by her short, sweet life.”
(Screen grab from SPD police-report map, filtered to show car prowls)
CAR PROWL TURNS TO BURGLARY, PLUS, THE STATS: Those are all the car prowls on the Seattle Police report map for West Seattle right now – 16 of them, dated from last Wednesday (September 30th) to last Sunday (October 4th). The default map view is supposed to show the entire past week, but we usually notice a few days lag, and indeed, checking Tweets by Beat (which we aggregate automatically on the WSB Crime Watch page), we see three more from the past two days, so that’s 19. And that’s not even counting the one reported to us this morning by Paul from the 3800 block of 34th SW (map) – that would be the 20th in one week – which he says preceded a burglary:
At approximately 4:05 am today, our dog started barking and we heard someone getting in a car and heading down the alley behind our house, between 34th and 35th. I went into our attached garage and found the garage door to be open and some items were missing. We quickly discovered that the burglars had broken into our car which was parked in the alley and gained access to the garage door remote.
If you could, please ask readers if anyone on or around the 3800 block of 34th SW or 35th SW saw any people or cars around 4 am today, or if they have any security camera footage that they could review. A car prowl is one thing, but a break-in while we’re at home is pretty brazen and unnerving, and any help would be appreciated.
Police did respond and investigate, Paul says. Meantime, another reader report from the queue:
ONE MORE CRIME WATCH NOTE: You might call this one a drive-by theft. It happened Sunday evening, Barry reported – “… a black backpack with wallet, cell phone, and medicine was stolen from the end of the blind alley off Walker between California and 44th. Construction crew working on our house were preparing to leave and were collecting their equipment when a SUV drove down to the end of the alley snatched the backpack and backed out of the alley very quickly.” It was a black Billabong backpack and has been reported to police.
NEXT WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL MEETING: 7 pm Tuesday, October 20th, at the Southwest Precinct – come hear crime updates and bring your concerns for Q/A with police.
Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: 20-year-old Alicia J. Goemaat is now charged with second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend’s 17-month-old son, Drue Lehto. The allegations are the same as described at the time of her bail hearing last week – that she kicked Drue in the abdomen twice, then put him in his crib, and that’s where the child’s father found his son dead after returning from a trip to the store; court documents say she later confessed to kicking Drue after becoming angry when he and her son, a few months older, fought over a toy. Goemaat remains in the King County Jail, now awaiting arraignment, with prosecutors asking that her bail remain set at $1 million.
As shown here last night, neighbors have started a sidewalk-side memorial for Drue; his father’s family is raising money online for his funeral, and gave us permission to use the family photo shown above.
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