West Seattle, Washington
05 Monday
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.
Recognize that man? A neighbor took the photos as he leaped off the fence and out of the yard where he’d been prowling, at Jennifer‘s home:
My husband spotted a prowler in our yard on 38th Ave SW (between Edmunds and Hudson) at approximately 6:20 p.m. today. Pretty brazen considering everyone was home and cooking dinner in a kitchen overlooking the yard! He was stumbling around in our garden and my husband yelled at him. Our neighbor happened to be walking down the alley and got these pictures of him jumping our fence to leave via the alley. He headed east toward The Mount.
Another neighbor who e-mailed us about this says police later found a knife in the area. If you have information about the prowlers identity, the SPD incident number to refer to is 16-166064.
Here’s what’s in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
STOLEN CAR FOUND BEFORE ITS OWNER KNEW IT WAS GONE: From Jesse:
I’m just writing to report that my car was stolen sometime early this morning from in front of my apartment. I live at the Overlook Westridge Apartment complex which has a closed gate and I live pretty deep into the complex so these people were scoping around looking for an easy target which owning a late 90’s Honda Civic I know my car is. The car was found this morning before I knew it was gone at the Starbucks Headquarters. It looks like they also stole some mail and some offerings from the local Vietnamese cultural center because the police found lots of envelopes belonging to them. They also left their tools, food, and drug remnants in the car. There is an open case with regards to this 16-165228. I hope that getting the word out will help bring these low-lifes to justice. My car is a black 1999 Honda Civic Ex with a dent in the passenger door.
FOLLOWUP – STOLEN PICKUP TRUCK FOUND: Alexandria sent an update this morning on the pickup truck whose theft was reported here on X. It was found, she reports in Renton, “still drivable but cleaned out.”
Next, three car-prowl reports, which follow SPD’s circulation of this quick video with prevention advice:
You can also find the advice on this page of the SPD website.
CAR PROWL: Mary Beth reports, “Just want to give my neighbors a heads up, smash and grab broken car window on SW Myrtle St [3000 block] sometime last night. Took the emergency bag.”
HIT AGAIN IN HIGHLAND PARK: From Ryan:
Just an email to get it out there that for the 5th time in barely over a year my wife’s Xterra had the rear window broken out of it and it was ransacked. Took place on the 8600 block of 13th ave SW. Previously my car was broken into twice, and stolen once. It really leaves you feeling totally helpless when it continues to happen over, and over, and over and SPD flat out says they will not investigate, and basically as I was told “filing a report will only generate metrics for us.”
JUNCTION CAR BREAK-IN: Also a reader report – this was spotted early this week:
Saw a brand-new Prius in the Mural Apartments parking garage with the driver-side window busted out. The automatic garage door was closed, but several exit doors connecting the garage with the alley behind the building were propped open, including the door connecting the garage with elevators to the residences. All of the doors connected to the garage along the alleyway are reinforced with a steel plate to prevent forced entry, but in the past few weeks I’ve seen those plates bent back, broken, etc. Seems like someone has been trying to get into the garage for a while.
The building is on 42nd SW across from Jefferson Square.
CAR PROWLED IN SEAVIEW: This happened yesterday and came in via text: “My car was rifled through between 2-6 pm … parked in the alley unlocked between 47th-48th and Graham/Raymond. I was in the backyard during this entire time and did not see/hear anything. Found my car with passenger front door open to the alley with both glove boxes’ contents thrown on the floor. About a dollar’s worth of change was taken.”
(added 4:23 pm) AND ANOTHER CAR PROWL: While this roundup was still atop our site, this came in from Barbara:
I wanted to let neighbors know that my car window was broken sometime during last night May 11th at 9000 13th Ave SW. A empty computer bag was taken.
P.S. Want to bring up neighborhood crime/safety concerns with local police? NEXT TUESDAY is your next chance, at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, 7 pm Tuesday (May 17th) at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster).
Charges also were filed today in another case we’ve been following – the “brazen burglary” case from last Friday, in which a resident came face to face with an intruder in her residence near the Luna Park business district.
The suspect, 41-year-old Thomas L. Nebel, is charged with residential burglary. He has been in jail since Friday, with bail set at $7,500. Charging documents say this is his first criminal charge in King County, but he has a record in Snohomish County and “extensive criminal history in Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska,” with convictions including burglary, assault, battery, and forgery. The mugshot at right is from 1999, the only time Nebel was in Washington Department of Corrections custody, and so the only mugshot that was available for us to request in our state (we’re checking to see if anything’s available from the other states).
Elaborating on the reader report we published from the burglary victim, the probable-cause document included with charging papers says she arrived at her home around 11:30 am Friday after getting word the fire alarm had gone off. SFD found no evidence of a fire and left; that’s when police say the victim found Nebel in a downstairs bedroom. They say he fled the house and ran into the greenbelt, where neighbors saw him; he knocked on one neighbor’s door and asked to use a phone, saying he was being chased, but he didn’t call anyone, and subsequently hid in that neighbor’s house. Police were alerted and found him hiding in bushes by a balcony, with a backpack and bag nearby that didn’t belong to the homeowner. Police say the victim’s house had been entered via a broken window.
Another followup on the North Delridge gunfire incident last weekend: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 29-year-old 
Dale G. Hiller with first-degree unlawful-firearm possession and two drug charges, one for meth possession and one for cocaine possession. Hiller, as reported here, was arrested at Delridge/Genesee late Saturday night; In a followup Monday, we reported that his bail was set at $150,000 on Monday and he was released after posting bond hours later. The charging documents say Hiller lost his gun-possession rights after being convicted of second-degree assault in early 2007, also noting: “He has a lengthy history of gun crimes, drug crimes, and violent crimes.” The documents recap what we reported after getting the probable-cause documents on Monday, that a backpack and shell casings were found near the arrest scene; the former contained a .22 caliber revolver as well as drugs and cash that totaled, with what was found in Hiller’s wallet, almost $3,000. His photo published here is from the Department of Corrections; as we reported in the discussion following Monday’s story, he was sentenced in 2013 to 3 1/2 years for an attempted home-invasion-style burglary in Burien. The charging documents say that his post-prison probation (“community custody”) ended on May 2nd, five days before his North Delridge arrest. He is due in court May 25th for arraignment.
In West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
STOLEN PICKUP TRUCK: Alexandria reports the pickup shown in part above was taken early Saturday morning from the 7300 block of 28th Ave SW. Description: “’87 Toyota gray pickup with topper. The passenger-front parking light smashed in, red heart/love sticker on back of topper, and red tape over the driver-side tail light.” Plate B59337N, per @getyourcarback, which reminds that if you see it, call 911.
NOTES: In case you missed these followups to stories from the past few days:
-We finally know where the “crash and dash” stolen car in Saturday’s crash at 35th/Hudson was stolen from – Capitol Hill. The carjacking victim commented on our story last night; we subsequently obtained the link to Capitol Hill Seattle‘s report on the original incident.
-We added multiple updates to yesterday’s followup on the arrest following Saturday night’s North Delridge gunfire. The most-recent update: The suspect posted bond and got out of jail late last night. The comment thread includes some information we’ve found about his record.
(UPDATED TUESDAY MORNING with suspect getting out of jail – also, see comments for more info)
3:52 PM: Late Saturday night, we reported on a gunfire suspect arrested near Delridge and Genesee. We have more information this afternoon from both SPD Blotter and the police report. First, just published on SPD Blotter by the department’s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee:
A ride-share driver led police to arrest a convicted felon Saturday night and recover a backpack filled with meth, crack cocaine, cash and a handgun.
Officer Nic Plemel was on patrol in the Delridge neighborhood around 11 PM Saturday when he heard the sound of gunfire several blocks away.
Moments later, a ride-share driver called 911 and reported seeing a man dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans and a red baseball cap firing a gun on the street in the 5400 block of Delridge Way Southwest.
Officers arrived and immediately saw a 29-year-old man, dressed just as the 911 caller had described, standing behind a bus stop at Delridge Way SW and SW Genesee Street.
Officer Plemel and Officer Nathan Worthen approached the man, who was standing right next to a backpack on the ground. He refused to answer any questions, but said the backpack wasn’t his.
When police looked inside the backpack, they found $2,700 in cash, 53 grams of suspected methamphetamine and three containers of marijuana. They later discovered 21 grams of suspected crack cocaine in the man’s pocket.
After a witness confirmed the 29-year-old was the same person they had seen firing a gun on the street, officers also discovered the 29-year-old is a previously convicted felon.
Officers booked the man into the King County Jail for drug possession and unlawful possession of firearms and are investigating.
According to the police report, a gun also was found in the backpack. We’re checking on the suspect’s record and status and will update with whatever more we find.
4:12 PM: The suspect’s background includes multiple felony convictions, according to what we’ve found so far in online records, including previous drug and gun cases.
7:33 PM: We’ve obtained the police-report narrative from the probable-cause documents provided at a hearing this afternoon during which the suspect’s bail was set at $150,000. It has some additional information beyond the SPD Blotter summary:
Breaking crime news this weekend – and breaking traffic news – has gotten in the way of our usually-daily roundups of West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports. Until now. We have burglary, car prowl, and theft reports – and a followup from someone who has gotten some of their stolen stuff back.
BURGLARY ATTEMPTS: From Anne in Upper Fauntleroy:
We have just reported 2 break-in attempts at our home at 42nd and Thistle. One was on April 21st between 9 pm and 8 am, where they attempted to break off the lower garage door handle to pry in. The next day we had flood lights installed.
The second attempt was made on May 4th, this time the upper garage side door, door knob pried off but our steel door framing holds the extended deadbolts. Our neighbor thinks it was around 3:30 am, because their dog was trying to wake up everyone in the house. They let the dog outside and the dog took off, so the neighbors got in their car and encountered 2 men in a late-model Toyota Sienna minivan that is red or burgundy. They were wearing reflective vests and said they were doing construction work; one had a very thick Slavic accent. They left and then moved the van a few blocks away.
We have security sensors and cameras inside the house, so if they were successful, we will get a good photo to share. I just thought I would let you know, just in case someone else has experienced anything similar, or has seen this van.
CAR PROWL: From Steve in Gatewood:
Add us to your car prowl list. 41st & Holden, underneath bright streetlight. Nothing was left in car, they took a box of Kleenex and some loose change from the center console. We had a couple of CDs in the glovebox; those were still in car. Clear case of someone prowling for money or getting lucky with a hidden valuable.
The car was locked this morning, they may have used electronic means to get in the vehicle – late-model Nissan. Neither of our other two cars was hit, nor were our neighbors’ cars across the street.
‘IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO STEAL AN IDOL’: An Admiral resident texted this on Saturday:
A sentimental piece of yard art was stolen from the front yard of my gray house next to Pizzeria 22 on College Street. It was an Easter Island-style head carved out of wood, about 2 feet tall. This may not sound like much, but it had very sentimental value and has been with me for decades.
Keep in mind, it is not a good idea to steal an idol. The hand-carved head has orange flecked paint on it. Someone now has it in their yard probably, unaware of the danger. And they should know that it is special and especially dangerous when placed in the wrong yard of someone who has stolen it. You still have time to return it to where you found it before your trouble starts. Look for a wooden carved Easter Island head with orange paint flecks.
STOLEN INSTRUMENTS, RETURNED: Back on April 21st, we published Maggie‘s reader report about musical instruments stolen while she and her partner were traveling through West Seattle. Today, we got a followup from her:
I wanted to send a huge thank you for posting our story/photo on West Seattle Blog. A man purchased two of our instruments and, after seeing the cases still had personal items in them, started looking up info on stolen instruments in West Seattle and found the info on your site. He contacted us and has returned both the guitar and the ukulele. We cannot thank you enough!
11:36 PM: In the past half-hour, we’ve heard by text and by comment from people who heard gunfire in the North Delridge vicinity. Via scanner, we’ve just heard confirmation that police found shell casings, near Delridge and Genesee. No injuries reported; they’re talking with someone at the scene who might have been involved.
11:53 PM: Still from the scanner – the person was reported by a passerby to have been seen “reloading”; he’s being taken into custody.
Two street robberies were reported to police early today, in The Junction and in South Delridge. We don’t have details of the latter but we do have information on the former because one victim’s mother e-mailed us, including what her daughter, 22, had posted to tell friends and relatives online:
“My cousins and I were walking home from West Seattle (Alaska) Junction to my parents’ house three doors down when we were robbed (at) gunpoint by four African American men in all black at 1:15 am on Glenn Way halfway between Oregon St. and Alaska St. They took everything we had on us.”
If you have any information, the SPD incident number is 16-158458.
The second robbery is on the SPD Twitter log as having happened at 16th/Barton, incident number 16-158586.
If you saw police activity in the Luna Park area late this morning, here’s what it was about: A resident of 30th SW came face-to-face with a burglar, and says police subsequently made an arrest. Here’s the report she sent us tonight:
This morning a man broke into my home – with my dog out and about. He used a beer bottle to smash open a window, reach in and unlock it. I’m by Luna Park Cafe.
He completely ransacked my home and must have been here for a while. He was quite brazen.
He set off my fire panic button, which is how I was alerted at work because the fire dept was on their way to my home. He then turned off and stole the system.
He stayed somewhere in the house while my landlord and firemen came in, but they didn’t check out the entire house. Shortly thereafter, I showed up and entered my home to find it destroyed and my dog frantic. I figured no one would be left in the house since the firemen had been there (not knowing they didn’t check the whole house) and ended up confronting a man in my bedroom. Luckily he left without a fight.. and apologized instead while picking up his (MY) things, when I told him to leave.
The SPD arrived quickly with K9 and caught him. Thank goodness for that panic button!
Please keep an eye out for your neighbors!
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