Six reader reports to share in this West Seattle Crime Watch roundup. First, the photo at left goes with this report from David, who originally posted this in the WSB Forums:

(Saturday) we parked in the free parking behind Jak’s and had brunch, then went to the computer store on California – we were parked from about 11 AM – 1 PM. When we came back to the car, the front passenger window had been smashed, and a black Kipling backpack with a smartphone and Nikon digital camera that was on the floor on the passenger side was gone. We have lived here for 6 years and park there all the time – never thought we’d have to worry mid-day, with cars and people all around. Sure would be nice to hear if anyone saw anything or finds the backpack.

Five more reader reports ahead: Read More

We have a few more West Seattle Crime Watch items to share later tonight but here’s a quick bit of good news for starters. You might remember the reader report earlier this week from Rebecca, whose car was stolen just days after she moved to West Seattle. It’s been found:

The car was found today 5 miles from the house, in Burien! Absolutely no damage, only some CD’s taken. They didn’t take the iPhone charger (?).

That isn’t as puzzling as it might seem – most cars are taken, SPD says, as “temporary transportation for common criminals.”

Lousy way to get welcomed to a new neighborhood. Brand-new West Seattleite Rebecca hopes you’ll be on the lookout for her car:

My husband and I moved to West Seattle two days ago and our car was stolen last night from in front of our house in Highland Park! It is a green, 4-door Honda CRV, license plate 780-WYL. The year is 2000.

Just a week and a half ago, two vehicles reported here as stolen were found, so here’s hoping the same for Rebecca.

3:25 PM ORIGINAL REPORT: Three break-ins to report in West Seattle Crime Watch – first, one announced in a news release just received from The Nature Consortium:

Late Thursday night, thieves broke into the boiler room at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and attempted to steal data servers belonging to Nature Consortium and Southwest Interagency Academy. Nature Consortium employees discovered the break-in when servers were not operational on Friday morning.

This is the fifth break-in at the Youngstown building this year, and tenants have urged the need for increased security. The historic school building is owned by the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, which has significantly reduced staff support for the building in recent years due to budget problems.

The thieves entered the boiler room though a manhole in the sewer, removed several data servers from the room and abandoned them nearby. Two of the units were discovered the next morning in the Delridge Park across the street. Both Nature Consortium and the Interagency Academy were able to recover their servers and no data was lost.

“We’re really fortunate that we were able to recover everything,” says Development Coordinator Lindsay von Marbod, who discovered the break-in Friday morning. “We could have lost all of our files, not to mention the dollar value of those servers. We’re really lucky.”

Two other reader reports about burglaries, ahead (PLUS, ADDED 4 PM, 2 OTHER NEW CRIME WATCH REPORTS):Read More

EARLY MORNING SHOOTING TODAY: SPD Blotter has details this afternoon on a call early this morning that closed fairly quickly (which is why we didn’t have it at the time) but, police now report, did send a man to the hospital with a bullet wound to his leg:

On October 14th at approximately 2:46 a.m. officers responded to a shooting in an apartment complex in the 3200 block of SW Avalon Way.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect and victim are acquaintances. Both adult males were intoxicated and involved in some sort of dispute with a third male at the entrance to the apartment building. The third male punched the victim and the victim’s friend (the suspect) went inside to his apartment. When the victim went to the suspect’s apartment to confront him, the suspect retrieved a pistol from the bedroom and shot the victim in the leg. The victim retreated outside the apartment calling for help and an unrelated witness called 911.

Officers knocked on the suspect’s door and announced their presence. The suspect surrendered without incident. Officers recovered the handgun used in the shooting, along with one spent shell casing and bullet fragments lodged in the carpet.The 26-year-old male suspect was booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault. The 25-year-old male victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of a non-life-threatening bullet wound to the lower leg.

UPDATE ON LAST WEEKEND’S SHOOTING: No charges filed yet in connection with the October 6th shooting outside a home in Westwood (WSB coverage here). Bail for the suspect was set at $100,000 last Monday (as reported here); he posted bond and got out of jail on Tuesday, and as of our last check, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said the case had not yet been referred to them. (P.S. Another reminder – a top-level staffer from the KCPAO is the guest at Tuesday’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, 7 pm at the SW Precinct – bring questions!)

SPD Blotter has details this afternoon on an early-morning incident near 27th and Cambridge (map) – shots fired into an apartment. Six people were inside, police say, but no one was hurt; SPD says 18 casings were found outside. This is just a few blocks east of the 30th SW Saturday morning shooting that injured one man, with the suspect jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail; there’s no indication at this point of any link.

(Saturday morning photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Followup today on the early-Saturday-morning shooting in Westwood: Bail was set this afternoon at $100,000 for the 23-year-old man arrested less than an hour and a half later, as reported here shortly after it happened. He is facing a first-degree assault charge for shooting another man in the chest. The court documents for today’s bail hearing have the same details as the police report that came out later Saturday – the victim was walking in the 9200 block of 30th SW around quarter past two Saturday morning and got into an argument with the suspect, followed by a physical fight, which then was followed by the suspect grabbing a gun from the holster worn by a friend, and firing one shot into the victim’s chest, before taking off in a vehicle now described as “a silver SUV.” Witnesses gave police the suspect’s name, and officers arrested him at his parents’ home on Queen Anne. He’s due back in court Wednesday. We don’t know the victim’s name, so we have no way to even try to get a condition update, but police reported on Saturday that he had been “stabilized” at the hospital. The suspect does not appear to have a felony criminal record.

In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight – one new car-theft report, and word that a stolen truck and stolen motorcycle reported here recently have both been recovered. First, the stolen car – it’s the one in the photo above, and the one in this tweet from the Seattle Police Department‘s @getyourcarback feed:

What that doesn’t say is that the 2009 gray Audi Q7, bought just three months ago by someone who moved to West Seattle just three months before that, was stolen from Highland Park, 5th and Cloverdale. Call police if you see it.

Meantime, the last two stolen vehicles reported in Crime Watch coverage have both been recovered. One week ago tonight, we published Sean‘s report about his stolen truck; he says it was found “in a public parking lot off 42nd.” And Ryan‘s motorcycle, mentioned here on Thursday, has turned up too: He says, “It was reported by a neighbor a few blocks from where I am who reads the WSB; the police came, checked it out, asked around, and then called me; the guy who stole it just left it there.”

Two theft reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon. First, Ryan‘s motorcycle was taken:

Stolen near 16th and Henderson SW: Honda CBR 600 F3 1995 Sportsbike

IT IS VERY NOTICEABLE, it’s a Purple, Black, Neon Yellow, with a “yellow windshield” and a Custom Exhaust, last known location was going East on Henderson street sw, it was taken by a white guy about 6 feet, wearing blue jeans, white sweatshirt and a black backpack, in his early 30s. This happened yesterday around 3 pm. LP is 9B6727

Andrew‘s bicycle was stolen from the 2400 block of 54th Place SW:

I found my bike stolen from my apartment complex this morning. It was locked up in the complex’s bike rack in the back parking lot. The bike lock was cut and left behind.

The bike is a Kona Ute, brown in color, with large orange bags. It’s the extended cargo-bike frame. The grips have been replaced with rubber grips that look like cork. There is a bottle holder on the handlebars along with a Kona bell. The kickstand is missing both it’s rubber feet and there’s some chain wear on the right kickstand leg. It has Continental CityContact tires, front disc brakes, and a wood deck on the cargo area. Unfortunately I never wrote down the serial number from it, but it’s pretty distinctive and wasn’t produced in large numbers.

If you see either one, call 911.

Side note: This month’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting will be Tuesday, October 16th, 7 pm, at Southwest Precinct, and president Richard Miller says they’ll have a guest from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

This morning we have the story from police regarding an arrest on Sunday outside Holy Rosary just before 12:30 pm. People who contacted/asked us about the incident were worried because they thought the man had a gun. He did NOT, according to police, though what they say he had is alarming enough. Det. Mark Jamieson just checked the report for us and here’s what police say happened:

Around 11:40 am Sunday, a man in a vehicle saw the suspect walking on the sidewalk in the Admiral Safeway/Hiawatha area, screaming, shirtless, carrying something “shrouded” in a shirt. The witness “thought it was something long, possibly a rifle.” The witness, Det. Jamieson says, got out of his vehicle and confronted the man on the steps into Hiawatha park, asking if he had a gun. The suspect – described by police as a 23-year-old transient – uncovered the item and pointed it at the other man: It was a three-foot-long “pointed construction spike.” The man who had confronted him backed away as the suspect yelled that this was none of his business; he continued screaming, and the other man, police say, got back into his car, called 911, and followed the screaming man as he walked south. He stayed on the phone, reporting what the suspect was doing and which way he was going, until officers intercepted the suspect at 42nd and Genesee (by Holy Rosary).

He still had the long spike concealed in a shirt, in his right hand; officers, Det. Jamieson says, “were able to convince him to set it down.” He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of harassment. Nobody was hurt.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning:

That’s Sean‘s truck. He sent the photo and this report:

Got up this morning to hitch up my boat and sure enough no truck. Stolen sometime before 4 am. Police report filed. Not sure what dimwitted fool would steal it considering how identifiable it is; the truck is covered with fishing decals. 2008 Toyota Tacoma, WA St. B48224E, Silver w/canopy.

If you see it – police ask that stolen vehicles be called in via 911. (Sean didn’t mention which neighborhood so we have e-mailed back to ask.)

Also, Sheridan sent this note Saturday afternoon:

I wanted to give you a heads up. I was just at my parent’s house in 24th just south of Roxbury, and we found some stolen mail in the yard of an abandoned house next door. I called the non-emergency line, and per their instructions, packaged it up to give to the mailman on Monday.

We have two reader reports to share, both with break-in alerts. The first one is from an Arbor Heights resident:

Just wanted to give an alert out: My house on 35th Ave SW & 114th Ave SW was broken into (Friday) between 8 am and 2 pm. They came in through a side window, stole my computer, iPod & ransacked some rooms and then left through the front door. My dog was home in her crate, luckily they did not take her or hurt her (but they were not deterred by her either because she was crated).

And from the 1500 block of 42nd SW in North Admiral:

About 415 am we heard our dog bark incessantly. We didn’t think much of it until the morning when we went into our vehicle that was parked in front of our home, and it had clearly been rummaged through. Meaning, everything from inside the glove compartment and console had been pulled out. There was no visible damage to the car and nothing of significance was stolen. We believe our dog scared him/her off and we also believe that whomever it was exited through our backyard, as our dog eventually began barking toward the back of the house. Be on alert!

We start West Seattle Crime Watch tonight with a report that there’s been a major break in connection with the drive-by shooting September 10th at 26th and Hudson. No one was hurt, but it was a close call for one driver, who wound up with a bullet hole in his windshield, as our photo shows. The announcement was made by Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen at tonight’s Safe Communities meeting (separate meeting report to come); we hope to get more details tomorrow. (Update: The big break is that police have found a car linked to the incident – no arrest yet, but progress.)

Also tonight, we just got word that a stolen car reported here recently has been found – 12 blocks away from where it was taken. Karen says her CR-V was undamaged. But, she adds, “In the car I found what appears to be the remnants of stolen mail from 2 West Seattle residents.”

Another WSB’er named Karen was hit by scooter thieves – her black-and-purple Honda Elite scooter was stolen in Gatewood, 7100 block of 36th SW, yesterday or last night, license #951570.

Finally – in Sunrise Heights, HM is having a problem with what s/he calls “delivery snatchers”:

Just wanted to let neighbors know of two recent porch thefts in the Sunrise Heights neighborhood. On Friday we had two new leather dining room chairs delivered to our front porch (they were supposed to be held at the FedEx store, but there was a mixup) and they were taken off the front porch sometime that afternoon or evening. This morning we had groceries delivered and we know they arrived sometime between 3am – 6am, and when I went to the porch at 6:30am to get them all but a box of waffles had been taken.

Please be careful of what you have delivered to your house and be on the lookout for “delivery snatchers.”