Yet another case of alert neighbors either scaring off suspected criminals or catching them: This just out of the WSB inbox, from Cecilia:

My husband and I live on Beach Drive, near the corner of Beach and Andover (a couple blocks north of La Rustica) [map]. At approximately 10:30 AM on the morning of Friday 9/18/09, I received a phone call from a neighbor alerting me to a potential attempted residential burglary in our home. Several neighbors and our US Mail Deliverer/Post Man observed a white unmarked van and some kind of tan/gold colored sedan park in front of our home. A short time later, one man got out of the van, came to the front of our home, looked into the front windows, then went around the side yard and back of our home, looking into all the windows. Neighbors were able to scare him off by asking what he was doing. One neighbor and the Post Man followed him in their cars, while he was on foot. He stopped to hide in some bushes near our home and proceeded to look into some windows of a neighbor’s house, at which point he was confronted by neighbors and police were called. By the time police arrived, the man was gone, as were the two suspect vehicles. Because there was no evidence of “forced entry” in our home and no recorded license plate numbers, an actual police report could not be made. Please be aware of an adult male (approximate age unknown), about 6-6’2 in height, approximately 180 lbs in weight, wearing a Nike hat, with brown “greasy” hair in a ponytail. Please also be aware of the vehicles described above.

Finally got official police details on what all those sirens were about last hour – thanks to the people who e-mailed us about it: According to Seattle Police media unit Det. Jeff Kappel, robbery detectives were looking for suspects “in cases they were working” around noon when one bolted and ran onto Schmitz Park Elementary (map) grounds. One eyewitness report we received by e-mail says the person jumped a fence to get onto school grounds:

Lunch time and the older kids were on the playground. Man jumped the fence and hid behind the backboard. Police cars arrived told kids to get down and they all responded immediately. All are safe and the man with the gun was handcuffed and taken away. … Staff and students responded extremely well.

Nobody was hurt and police confirm the man was taken into custody. Det. Kappel says he’s not sure which case the suspects were associated with, but three people are in custody. We’re working to find out more and will add additional details as we get them. 1:46 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Rhonda in the Schmitz Park office. She reiterates that everybody’s OK and back in class now and “did an amazing job.” She also says principal Gerrit Kischner (who’s on the phone with police as we speak) will send an official e-mail to Schmitz Park parents to let them know about the incident. 2:55 PM UPDATE: As provided by Ezra in the comment section below (and also sent to us in e-mail by another parent), here is the note sent to parents by the principal:

Dear Schmitz Park Families:

I want to share with you information regarding an incident that has affected our school community. I am sending you this letter to update you on the facts and to assure you that we are doing everything we can to support our students.

At approximately noontime today, Seattle Police Department arrested an unarmed robbery suspect on our school property during recess for third, fourth and fifth graders, and the police are conducting an investigation. Your child may have witnessed or knows another student who witnessed this event.

Student followed policy directions very well and playground monitors moved quickly to move students to safety. Following the incident, police gave the all-clear to allow Kindergarten, first and second graders onto the playground to begin their recess. We have discussed the incident with our students with the information available to us at this time.

Providing your students with a safe learning environment remains a top priority at Schmitz Park Elementary School. It is important that we continue to work together towards this unified goal. We are committed to safety within our community.

Additionally, classroom teachers will continue to discuss personal safety and safe practices regarding getting to and from school and reporting unsafe situations. Our counselor, Alben Tufel, has been made available to talk with students as well. Depending on the age of your child, this is also a good time to discuss how rumors spread and how we can work together to keep each other safe. I hope you will take the time to have similar conversations at home with your child.

Our plans for emergency drills this year include plans to conduct a lock-down drill. Please be assured that the safety and security of our students is our number one priority. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us.

As you will note, the principal’s note says the suspect was not armed. We are still working to get more information from police regarding any additional details they can share with us on the case – particularly what the suspects were wanted for, separate from the brief escape. 5:36 PM UPDATE: A little bit of new info – according to Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James, the suspect arrested on school grounds was being sought in connection with the Westside Pharmacy post-shutdown holdup the other day (here’s our original story on that). 8:42 PM UPDATE: More details now on SPDBlotter. Two arrests in all but police originally had questioned three people. The one who jumped the fence at Schmitz was indeed the robbery suspect; the other one arrested was the alleged getaway driver. Both men are 23.

First, the followup: The Gatewood resident we all know only as “burglarbustindad” will be on TV sometime tonight; KING5 wanted to get in touch with him after reading his story here – we sent him their e-mail address (we never divulge contact or ID info) and he said in this comment that they were over interviewing him earlier today. (Added early Friday – Here’s the story link.) He also sent us the photo at left – he jokes that Cookie is “fired” as his guard dog – 15 years old, by the way. Meantime, the suspected burglar remains jailed. Now, to two burglaries that to our knowledge have NOT yet been solved – both, like “burglarbustindad,” with stolen items including sizable quantities of coins — read on:Read More

Just found out (thanks to Anne for the tip) that someone working inside Westside Pharmacy, which was doing inventory after closing its pharmacy operations last night to move to the new QFC, was held up this afternoon. Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen says the robber went in around 2 pm, showed a silver revolver, demanded drugs, was given a bag of what actually were various “returned” drugs since the pharmacy had no stock left after the move, and took off. No injuries. Only description – white male robber, black male driver in a gray getaway car. 8:32 PM UPDATE: SPDBlotter has published an item about this, with a few more details.

Second of at least 4 reports from Tuesday night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting: A rep from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirms that the case of 19-year-old West Seattle repeat offender Skyelar Hailey is being reviewed to see if the Repeat Burglar Initiative could apply. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg didn’t mention it specifically in his speech to the group (though he had a lot to say about the juvenile-justice system and how he believes repeat-offender juveniles are not appropriately dealt with – Hailey had a juvenile record), but Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen mentioned Hailey’s August arrest (detailed here), and a Satterberg assistant spoke up to say the RBI deputy is taking a look. Hailey is still in jail, by the way, though his bail was cut two weeks ago to $15,000. He’s due back in court next month.

Much news from tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting. We’ll break it up into chunks. First, updates on two spots that have sparked community concern – both were asked about while Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen was answering attendees’ questions:

ADMIRAL PUB: Particularly since the gunfire/beating incident outside the bar on August 28th, some questions came up about repeated problems (as noted in this WSB comment thread, too). Lt. Paulsen said, “We had some concerns about whether it was managed responsibly, so we are working with the owner”; he explained that police and City Attorney’s Office reps met with the Admiral Pub‘s owner last week, talking about “how (the problems) are affecting the residential community surrounding it.” He told the group the owner said he wanted to cooperate to have a “good safe business”; assistant city attorney Beth Gappert, who is based at the Southwest Precinct, said that the city has till the end of the month to decide whether it wants to object to the renewal of the Admiral Pub’s liquor license. (Side note – as we wrote in this comment thread last night, court documents show that the man arrested after the Sept. 1st incident, Jedidiah Doyle, is charged with second-degree assault.)

35TH/MORGAN CONVENIENCE STORE: Talk about loitering and suspected drug dealing has bubbled up from time to time regarding this corner. Asked about it tonight, Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel said, “We’ve been aggressively taking care of that situation.” He said he’s “trespassed” – a citation that requires someone to stay away – at least a dozen people, and says other tactics are in the works. “We are very much on top of that spot there …pretty soon we’ll have it under control.” He drew laughter by noting he’d outsmarted some would-be repeat offenders who figured out what hours he usually worked and tended to stay away during those hours — “For two nights two weeks ago I changed my shift, and trespassed more people” – who apparently were surprised to see him.

More to come later tonight, including the latest crime trends, and what King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg told the group.

Thanks to Todd in Westwood for noting this in the WSB Forums: A man whom authorities believe is half the duo responsible for at least 17 bank robberies around the region, including 3 here in West Seattle (here’s our report from a week ago), is now in jail. Here’s the latest from the Seattle Times (WSB partner). No indication at this point whether the man who’s in jail is the one caught on camera in the three local robberies, or his accomplice, caught on camera in others. According to the King County Jail Register, his bail is set at $750,000; online court records show he has a criminal history, including a burglary case. ADDED 8:02 PM: Here’s the entirety of the news release the FBI sent tonight:

On September 11, 2009 at approximately 9:30 PM, Quincy Quinn, age 36, was taken into custody at his residence located in Skyway, Washington by deputies and detectives of the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO).  The arrest came as a result of a joint investigation by KCSO Detectives and members of Seattle FBI’s bank robbery task force.  Since June 1, 2009, agents and detectives had been investigating a pair of males believed to be responsible for as many as 17 King County bank robberies.

On September 10, 2009 the investigative efforts to date along with bank surveillance photos were shared with local media.  As a result, several leads were developed that focused the investigation onto Quinn and an as of yet unidentified associate.  After his arrest, Quinn was booked into the King County Jail with regard to an outstanding warrant in an unrelated matter and investigation of multiple counts of 1st Degree Robbery.  

We’re still trying to determine which of the two suspects in photos is Quinn and which is still being sought – we’ll update as soon as we know that for sure. 8:45 PM UPDATE: Finally have that nailed down. The suspect in jail is believed to be the one shown in photos from at least two West Seattle robberies – meantime, here are photos of the man who is NOT YET UNDER ARREST:

If you know or see him, call 911.

Back on May 20, we published a Crime Watch report from Robin, whose car was stolen just weeks after she arrived in West Seattle. All this time later, she says, it’s finally turned up:

For what it’s worth, I thought I’d follow up with news that my car that was stolen on 5/14 from in front of my house on 39th and Morgan [map] was found last Thursday. SPD left me a voicemail with the address where it was “found.” Of course, 4 months and an insurance claim later, the car no longer belongs to me. However, I thought I’d check to see if any of my belongings were still there. Upon arrival (1.5 miles from my house — just out of the radius I had personally searched for it), the car was in perfect condition, albeit dirty, and it was clear that it had been sitting there for months. Only a few items were taken, but the thieves left a pair of expensive sunglasses, a booklet of CDs, an FM transmitter, and several other easily sell-able items. Should I want to pass any message along to WSB readers, it would be to not be afraid to report abandoned vehicles! They might actually be helping someone by doing so.

The city in fact has an Abandoned Car Hotline: 206-684-8763.

Two more reports to share tonight – but first, another plug for tomorrow night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting. If you have any concerns you’d like to bring directly to Southwest Precinct police leadership, this is exactly the place to be; also, tomorrow’s guest speaker is King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, which means you’ll get to hear – and ask – about what happens to crime suspects *after* they’re arrested, including the recently launched Repeat Burglar Initiative. 7 pm, public meeting room at the precinct (Delridge/Webster, parking lot and building entrance are off Webster). Now, speaking of burglary, the latest reports:Read More

Three Crime Watch reports to share this afternoon – reports of an Alki assault, Gatewood burglary, and a Junction-area sighting that might or might not be related to a theft – read on:Read More

Kelli e-mailed last night to say that she saw graffiti in three areas north of Lincoln Park, including a business sign, with the same homophobic three-word slur that led to a police investigation and arrest this past May. She has reported it through the city’s online graffiti-reporting form and is contacting police as well – as we told her, police have said publicly recently that they want to hear about graffiti because they might be able to match it to certain suspects/repeat offenders. While no suspect has been described or identified in this case, we did check on the status of the man arrested after last May’s graffiti incidents. According to Seattle Municipal Court online records, the charges were dropped in June because he was found incompetent to stand trial. As for what happened after that, online records don’t say, but we are checking whether there is any publicly available information; he spent about a month in jail after being arrested in mid-May. P.S. Kelli said in her original note that she was hoping a report might “broadcast to these dunces that their feelings do not represent those of most West Seattleites. I found it disgusting and, frankly embarrassing for our neighborhood.” One spot she said had been vandalized, a bench at the tennis courts north of Lincoln Park, was already getting some work; she said “an elderly gentleman was busy trying to sand the words off the park bench” as of late yesterday afternoon.

Remember the Junction KeyBank robbery on August 5th? The FBI has just sent out a bulletin saying that robber – who has turned up on camera in several other recent robberies around the city – is believed to be half of a team blamed for 17 holdups in the past three months. Here’s the official “bulletin” flyer. FBI agent Frederick Gutt says, “If they are, in fact, responsible for each of these, it would make them the most prolific bank robbers in the Seattle area since 2006. The suspects should be considered armed and dangerous. We could use the public’s help with identifying them. Anyone with information regarding these suspects is asked to contact the FBI at (206)622-0460 or seattle.fbi@ic.fbi.gov.” 4:07 PM UPDATE: Reading through a spreadsheet that accompanied the news release – the same pair are suspected of two other West Seattle robberies – July 10th at Alaska USA in Westwood Village QFC, and July 15th at US Bank on Edmunds across from Jefferson Square. Here are the photos on the “bulletin” linked above:

Not shown in that montage, here’s the photo we got from the FBI after the July 10th Westwood Village robbery:

Here’s the FBI’s list of the 17 robberies they believe to be linked to this team.