As reported here on Saturday, Alki Elementary‘s principal sent a letter home to families (read it in our previous report here) about a suspected luring attempt. We’ve obtained the full report narrative from Seattle Police this afternoon, with more details than the letter had included:

[On February 26Lh, 2016 at 1500 hours, was picked up by his mother from AIki Elementary School; as school weather was clear but overcast they decided to walk home a short dístance away. (The child) was walking slower than his mom and sister as their distance extended a block ahead. (The child) explained that he was walking N/B on 59th Ave SW approaching SW Spokane Street when he stopped for a vehicle to drive by. As the vehicle slowly drove past, the passenger inside this vehicle looked at him and asked, “Do you want to get in?” (The child) stated he replied, “no thanks.” The vehicle drove off and made a turn and drove off in an unknown direction.

(He) describes the vehicle as a red pick-up truck with lifted suspension and a canopy. He stated two subjects were on board. The male passenger is described as a black male 18-25 with short hair and medium complexion. He wore a goatee and a dark brown jacket. He was smoking a cigarette during the encounter.

I asked (the boy) if he was fearful from the encounter. He stated,”No.”He really didn’t think too much of it. He reported the incident to his mom when he arrived home. (She) stated this incident caused her alarm and wanted to report the incident to law enforcement.

Hey, package thieves! If you’re reading this … we have messages from two recent targets. First, JL:

I had an USPS package stolen from our stoop Friday afternoon. We are near 34th Ave SW and SW Andover [map]. It was delivered Friday at 3 pm while we were still at work. I didn’t report it until now because I thought there was a possibility that the package was delivered to the wrong address, as the USPS has been having this growing problem with us and our neighbors the past few weeks. But it’s not looking like that’s the case.

The contents weren’t anything very valuable, just a record from a now-defunct local band. If anything, I’m annoyed that it was a record that took me a little while to find, and even more annoyed that we have someone in the neighborhood whose morals are low enough to steal anonymous packages.

To the thief, if you are reading this: Do me a solid and go sell the record to Easy Street Records. They’ll give you about $5 for it. Then they can turn around and sell it to me for $10. I’m happy to pay it, and you’ll be helping stimulate our local economy and support a West Seattle business. It’s a win-win! You get $5 and I get my record. Come on, buddy.

Just as we were about to publish JL’s report, this one came in, from Rusty:

Wednesday afternoon I had 3 packages delivered to my house (close to 41st & SW Rose St.), each containing cast-iron weights, and each weighing approximately 80 lbs. The mailman parked one house away, delivered the packages, then continued to the adjacent block on foot. When he returned to his vehicle, he noticed that someone had attempted to steal one of the boxes, but only made it 1/2 block before giving up and dropping it on the sidewalk (very close to his truck) and partially ripped open. The other 2 boxes were strewn about close to my door, as if they had tried to move each one.

The mailman left a mail theft notice on my door and I figured out that I was missing one box, so on Saturday I went to the post office and was able to retrieve the missing box. I would like to sincerely thank the conscientious mail carrier for being pro-active, and also let the loser who tried to steal my mail know that they might want to get a set of their own, as they are currently too weak and soft to steal them from others.

Got a message for a criminal? Or even just a basic “here’s what happened” report? Send Crime Watch info to us at editor@westseattleblog.com – after you have reported to police, of course. Thanks!

Four West Seattle Crime Watch reports this afternoon:

MORGAN JUNCTION SEARCH: Not a lot of details on this but it’s happening right now – the AT&T Wireless store at California/Fauntleroy/Morgan reported an iPad was stolen by three “young male” suspects. So if you’re seeing police in the area, that’s what they’re responding to.

LURING ATTEMPT REPORTED: Thanks to the Alki Elementary parent shares this letter that families received last night from principal Shannon Hobbs-Beckley:

Dear Alki Community,

I want to share with you information about an incident in our neighborhood today. This evening, we received information regarding a male stranger in a red truck near Alki Elementary School at the end of the school day. As a student walked by the vehicle, the student was asked if he wanted a cigarette and a ride in his vehicle. The student refused and the driver left. The student immediately reported it to his parents. They notified staff and Seattle Police.

The student did everything right, immediately getting away from the stranger, reporting the incident and giving a specific suspect and vehicle description to SPD. They will continue to investigate.

The safety of our students is a top priority for Seattle Public Schools. You can help your children stay safe by talking to them about personal safety. As a reminder, please talk to your child(ren) about walking in pairs or groups and being aware of their surroundings at all times, as well as not talking to strangers or getting into their vehicles. Having these conversations, especially with younger children, can be difficult. We encourage you to be sensitive to your child. This link to the Seattle Police website offers some valuable information which may help you with your discussions.

We’ll look for the police report on that Monday – the only incident logged on Tweets by Beat that might correspond is a “suspicious person” call from 59th/Spokane last night.

BURGLARY THIS MORNING: A house at 16th and Cambridge was broken into this morning, according to a relative of the victims, who weren’t home at the time. The relative says an alarm was set off and police got there fast, but the burglar made off with a laptop.

CAR PROWL LAST NIGHT: Around 7 pm Friday along 19th on Pigeon Point, a smash-and-grab car prowl happened, with a purse and iPhone stolen. The victim’s friend says they tracked the phone to a gas station on Delridge; they say the suspect (whom they describe as “a black man in his 40s, stocky build, 5’9”) was there trying to use a stolen credit card, in a gold 2005 Elantra, license plate starting with ANW, which police later told them was stolen. As of our last check, they hadn’t heard whether the car and suspect had yet been found.

In West Seattle Crime Watch today – Amber at Freshy’s in The Admiral District has a heads-up for fellow businesspeople:

I had an attempted break-in last night (luckily they failed), and I just wanted to get the word out and warn others. I know there has been a lot of this going on, and businesses are most likely already prepared, but just a reminder to make sure no one leaves cash in their register, etc., and that this happened right in front on California. They obviously tried pretty hard, and my security camera showed that they went to great lengths, so just to reiterate their boldness.

We asked – sorry, no images of the actual burglar(s). Amber did get video of a burglar several years back that she says helped convict him – so yes, cameras can make a difference.

Just this morning, we were talking about illegal dumping. Since then, two cases to report:

RV DEBRIS: The RV in that photo, which Al says had been parked for weeks in the SW Marginal Place cul-de-sac under the West Seattle Bridge, is gone this afternoon. Al took the photo above last night, after noticing the sudden profusion of junk strewn outside it. He said it had been tagged and at one point even booted, though that, he said, was gone by last night. We went over for a look an hour and a half ago and discovered the RV was gone – but not the junk:

(WSB photo)

We have no idea whether the RV was towed, or moved by its owner. We can tell you the debris includes syringes and broken glass.

(WSB photo)

As our photo shows, the junk is nominally surrounded by a square of “POLICE LINE, DO NOT CROSS” tape, but it’s in the street, on the sidewalk, and blocking the end of a public stairway down from SW Charlestown on Pigeon Point, so we started making calls to find out what will be done to clean it up – it’s a health hazard at the very least. As noted in this morning’s (unrelated) story, Seattle Public Utilities is the city’s lead agency on illegal dumping. So our contact there is checking around to find out if this is on their radar. In the meantime, you’ll want to avoid the area – which is right along the bike path to and from the low bridge, among other things.

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: SPU told us this was scheduled for cleanup today – so we went by around 11:30 and found it was gone. Separate update to come.

(back to original Thursday story) Also this afternoon:

ILLEGAL DUMPING IN ARBOR HEIGHTS: Also this afternoon, Jeff shared the photo and report:

On Tuesday evening this week, this load of construction debris was illegally dumped in our alley in Arbor Heights. It is blocking our alley now and will need to be removed. I called the city’s illegal dumping line and reported this issue. This alley lies between the following streets: SW 102nd St, SW 104th St, 37th Pl SW, and 37th Av SW. It’s interesting how the people who did this used the utility pole to anchor the debris load while they drove off.

Jeff told us a short time ago that since he sent that note and photo earlier this afternoon, a city crew has shown up to clean it up, he said. But that still doesn’t answer the question of who did it.

PACKAGE, LAWN ORNAMENTS STOLEN: Steph says:

Seems like we had a busy prowler on our street (40th Ave SW) yesterday as a package was stolen from our front porch (UPS said it was delivered around 10 am when we were at work) and my mother-in-law 4 houses down the street had two pricey lawn ornaments (a glass orb with stand and a glass birdbath) stolen from their yard overnight. My in-laws reported their issue to the police; we reported our stolen package to Nordstrom (where it came from). Also, if anyone sees a glass orb and its stand, we’d love it back – it’s got such huge sentimental value attached to it.

As we urged Steph, please also report package/mail theft to police, even if only via the online form – otherwise official records won’t show an accurate picture of what’s happening.

PROWLER: Karleen shared this alert from North Delridge:

4700 Block 22nd /23rd SW – At 7:15 a.m. we heard a car alarm in our neighborhood at 7:30 a.m. Someone was in our back yard! We have locks on all of our gates. The dogs were in bed with me so no one barked! but my mom is visiting and she saw the person! My mom said he/she appeared to be a female or male Native American/Hispanic/Black mix 5’4′ 135 pounds athletic build wearing a military gray cap with hair tucked up under it. A gray tweed style coat. By the time I reacted, they were gone. Called the cops, traced the tracks and they were already in persuit of a car prowler, could be related. Whoever it is is brazen and casing houses as well; they went through my neighbor’s tool shed and our donation boxes in front of my car. Let this be a good reason I am at home sick today. If my puppies would have been outside, who knows what would have happened. I hope they get caught!

(File photo)

Illegal dumping is a big problem – our check of WSB archives underscores that, turning up a pile of reports. Just how big? District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold has stats in her latest e-mail update, sent this morning – and reveals that Seattle Public Utilities has a new approach for handling the problem:

Since 2014, the number of illegal dumping service requests to SPU has jumped from about 5,000 to an astonishing 11,500 in 2015. As a result, unfortunately, the average response time went from 21 days to 28 days. To address this SPU decided they needed to find a way to both 1. Reduce the current service request backlog and 2. Improve future response times.

In order to do that, last week SPU assigned temporary staff to consolidate the backlog of service requests. As of February 18th they had 100% of the backlogged requests reviewed and found that approximately 25% were duplicate requests. This clearly demonstrated a need to address the issue of illegal dumping differently. In other words, SPU shifted from an enforcement model that only responded to complaints, to an enforcement model that also includes proactively clean up illegal dumping in areas where it happens frequently.

SPU is now preparing “clean sweep” maps and routes for cleanup crews where they will drive each street to pick up both reported and unreported items – especially in those locations that have frequent illegal dumping activity, so that pick-up opportunities are maximized, the complaint backlog reduced, and response time improved.

Your options for reporting illegal dumping are listed here – and of course, there’s also the city’s Find It Fix It app.

Two-wheeled West Seattle Crime Watch news:

STOLEN MOPED: From Tim – “I wanted to reach out and report my stolen moped in hopes someone has seen it around the neighborhood. It’s a vintage 70’s green Sachs Balboa, taken from my backyard on 21st Ave SW between Barton and Cambridge near Westwood Village. … It has a long seat, lime green grips on the handle bars, and a large aftermarket exhaust tied to the frame with leather cord.”

FOUND BICYCLE: Jen photographed this bike apparently dumped in Sunrise Heights:

If it was stolen from you, let us know the # of the report you filed so we can pass on the location.

11:39 AM: He’s said it before, and last night at the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting (full story to come), Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis said it again: Car prowling remains our area’s biggest crime problem. This morning, we have two reader reports:

36TH SW NORTH OF FAUNTLEROY: Mike sent the photo and reports, “Someone smashed our car’s tinted rear window early this morning. SPD officer stated this is happening more frequently. Thieves are only breaking tinted glass to check for valuables. Nothing taken.”

WESTCREST PARK: Janet reports, “My passenger window was smashed and bag grabbed in main parking lot (by community garden) at Westcrest Dog Park around 5:30 p.m. yesterday, 2/23. Bag stolen. Reported to police, but be careful!”

ADDED 1:59 PM: We’ve heard from Taren about a Sunrise Heights car prowl mentioned in comments:

We had an auto break-in last night on 35th Avenue SW in front of Trinity Church near Holden. The burglar/vandal broke the passenger side window with a rock. The key items stolen were a medium (18×10) grey metal toolbox containing primarily craftsman screwdrivers and pliers, a red back-pack style auto emergency kit (purchased pre-filled) and a large new-in-box Star Wars toy (black box… Star Wars The Black Series Jabba’s Rancor Pit Set).

Out of the WSB inbox, from Josie:

I just wanted to report that my electric bike (IZIP) was stolen from outside my apartment building on Alki (it was locked up) this weekend (3000 block of 60th Ave. SW). It’s cream-colored and looks unique because it’s an electric bike (it has a motor). Here’s what it looks like.

If you see it, call police.

NEXT CRIME/SAFETY MEETING: Another reminder that the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meets Tuesday, 6:30 pm at the precinct (2300 SW Webster), and it’s your next chance to hear from and bring neighborhood concerns to local police leadership. Plus, SPD’s new director of transparency and privacy will be the special guest.

Two late-night West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

CAR-PROWL ATTEMPT: From S in Admiral:

Just reported (around midnight) to the police a black male about 6’0 6’1 with a Hispanic accent with an Afro, he was trying to break into a car off 42nd and lander in the admiral area wearing all black near the mail center. He punched the car window twice. I was walking near the Safeway and park and immediately left to go back home to call it in because I did not have my phone on me. All of sudden he was behind me trying to speak to me and asked to talk for a moment and I said no I needed to go. I know it is late, but just wanted to give a heads up to neighbors and people close by.

DUMPED BIKES: Christine spotted them by the cleaners at 35th/Morgan in southeast Gatewood:

Or if you’re looking for a blue bicycle – we haven’t heard yet if this one’s been claimed.

(WSB photo, Thursday afternoon)

The Highland Park man arrested after a short standoff on Thursday is out of jail. And we’ve found out what he told police was his reason for firing a single shot outside his house: The 39-year-old suspect told officers he did it because he was tired of cars going by his house on 16th SW and revving their engines.

That’s according to the police document submitted for the 39-year-old man’s bail hearing today. As a convicted felon – with a “taking a motor vehicle without permission” conviction on his record – he wasn’t supposed to have a gun, so he’s under investigation for unlawful firearm possession. The document says he gave police permission to search his house, where they found a silver .357 revolver under his pillow, a rifle and bulletproof vest in his closet, and a .22 revolver in a cabinet. He eventually admitted the .357 is the one he fired into the ground, and officers found the bullet.

At today’s hearing, the judge allowed him to go free on personal recognizance, but he’s expected back in court next Tuesday. By then, prosecutors might have decided whether to charge him.

Just before the now-over 16th SW standoff broke out, we were working on this West Seattle Crime Watch roundup, including a followup on the previous gunfire incident in the area. But first:

RECOGNIZE THIS BICYCLE? Scott shares the photo and report:

Found this bike dumped at Roxhill Park Thursday morning 2/17. We have it at Seattle Parks Maintenance Headquarters at Lincoln Park. Call 684-7457 or 423-2174.

SHOOTING FOLLOWED BY A RE-ENACTMENT? We have just obtained the police-report narrative filed after the gunfire incident we covered late Tuesday night outside the Highland Park 7-11. It says police responded after multiple 911 reports of hearing gunfire, and, as we reported that night, they found one shell casing. As police investigated, they were told a person described only as a “white male” went into the store and bought a beer around 11:20; someone else came into the store and started speaking to him just before he left. The two then asked the clerk if they had a cigarette; he said no, and the two left together. The gunshot was heard shortly afterward.

Another customer then entered the store and reported the gunshot. As you can see in our photo, those who came to investigate included an officer from the SPD Gang Unit. About an hour later, after police had left, 911 got a call to say that two males were back at the scene, in the intersection, and “appeared to have bene re-enacting the shooting while displaying a ‘finger gun’. The males were seen looking around the area and appeared to be looking for shell casings. They were last seen westbound on SW Holden; police came back but couldn’t find them.

MAIL THEFT: Harry and Mongo report: “On Sunday 2/14, during our regular morning Neighborhood Watch patrol, we scared away a mail thief from the Explorer West Middle School (area). He left a pile of mail, from around the 10000 area of 30th Ave SW. We have dried out what we could salvage and are sending the remnants on to our neighbors.”

Thanks for sharing the news so we can help get it out peninsula-wide – once you’ve reported to 911, let us know via editor@

As noted in our coverage of last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, car prowls remain one of our area’s most common crimes. If it happens to you, be sure to report it – then please let us know too. From the inbox today:

CAR PROWL: Jan reports from Upper Alki: “Yesterday morning near 57th and Admiral, our son’s car window was smashed in and two backpacks taken. The smaller backpack was returned to us later in the day by a neighbor who noticed it sitting in the back of her garage. The larger hiking backpack is still missing.” She says it’s Gregory brand, red and gray.

BROKEN WINDOW: Don’t know if this was a car prowl or pure vandalism, but Seth spotted it early today: “Came out of my home at 5:30am and saw a black SUV with its rear passenger window smashed. Across from the 7-11 on Avalon.”

STOLEN MAIL, TOSSED: Via e-mail: “Mail theft has been a problem on 17th Ave SW and 18th Ave SW for a couple weeks. I found fistfuls of mail on the ground between Kenyon and Henderson. This morning it was on 17th & Kenyon.”

One more note:

NEXT CRIME/SAFETY MEETING … is the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network, 6:30 pm next Tuesday (February 23rd) at the Southwest Precinct. WSBWCN’s Karen Berge just sent news their guest is confirmed: the new Seattle Police director of transparency and privacy, Mary Perry.

Tonight’s previous report featured a car stolen in Westwood and found by a WSB reader on Puget Ridge. Maybe you can help find this one: Ann just e-mailed that her 2000 white Volvo wagon was stolen overnight from her residence in the 10000 block of 51st SW (map). License plate ARP2096. As the @getyourcarback tweet says, call 911 if you see it.

P.S. We asked Ann if it has any distinguishing features, in case the plates are gone or switched: “It does have a long gash below the back-seat door on the passenger side, and my granddaughter’s car seat.”

Two incidents to report in West Seattle Crime Watch, plus a reminder:

RITE-AID CASH-MACHINE THEFT ATTEMPT: Thanks to everybody who tipped us about the broken doors at the Rite-Aid store south of The Junction. One person reported a big police presence investigating around 6:30 am. A store employee confirmed to us that it was an attempt to steal the cash machine – which was reportedly found with a chain around it. The machine and the store were both in full operation when we stopped in.

CAR WINDOW SMASHED: Megan reports this happened overnight:

FYI- car window smashed out sometime between 9 pm (2/13) and 12:30 am (2/14) on 20th/Kenyon. Hoping nobody else in the neighborhood had to deal with a similar mess.

REMINDER: The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s next meeting is 7 pm Tuesday (February 16th) at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster). Bring your neighborhood concerns/questions for police. Spotlight guest will be from the city to talk about its new alert.seattle.gov system.