West Seattle, Washington
20 Tuesday
Desiree is not only upset about something that happened to a friend of hers, she wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to you, so she e-mailed WSB to share the story, so you know what and who to watch for – read on:Read More
From the neighborhood east of Lincoln Park, an alert about two early-morning sightings of apparent would-be mail thieves:Read More
As mentioned in our previous story, tonight’s WSCPC meeting at the Southwest Precinct heard additional information on last night’s “home invasion” robbery. That’s not the only case police discussed – several more updates on cases old and new, plus the council’s decision on leadership for the new year, all ahead:Read More
A multitude of updates from police at tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – but there’s one we wanted to get to you first: A few more details about the “home invasion” robbery late last night at 12th/Myrtle. One concerned neighbor came to the meeting in hopes police would have more information to share, and they did: Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen said they don’t believe it was random — “we think they knew what they were looking for,” possibly with some kind of drug involvement. He says the two robbers were masked, believed to be Hispanic, and “forced their way in after knocking on the door.” The two victims they attacked were men, two of the four adults who were in the home along with one child. Lt. Paulsen reiterated that the victims weren’t the ones who called the police – after they drove downtown to Harborview Medical Center to get treatment for one victim’s injuries, the hospital called SPD, and that’s when officers went to the 12th/Myrtle home. “The scene was pretty extensive,” Lt. Paulsen noted, wth some of the loot left strewn “down the block.” He says because victims and suspects aren’t believed to be totally strangers, “it might not be too difficult to follow up on,” though no one’s been arrested yet. More updates on other cases, coming up later.
Posted at SPDBlotter: Two people broke into a home in the 1200 block of SW Myrtle (near Riverview Playfield; map) 
late last night and held residents at gunpoint, beating two of them before getting away. Police say they first found out about it when one of the victims was driven to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. We’ll be checking for more info on this beyond what’s in the blotter entry. We’re also likely to hear more at tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (7 pm, Southwest Precinct, all welcome). ADDED 12:37 PM: A few more details from Lt. Steve Paulsen at the precinct: “4 adult and 1 child victims were inside. There was an assault on two of the male victims which required hospitalization.. Some of the stolen items were recovered a short distance from the home. No suspects have been arrested yet.”
Before we and the rest of the world go All Inauguration/All The Time for much of the rest of the day/night, 3 other events of note TONIGHT: (1) First meeting of the year for the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council – including your chance to take neighborhood concerns directly to local police. 7 pm, Southwest Precinct. (2) First meeting of the year for Sustainable West Seattle, 7:30 pm, Camp Long Lodge. (3) Second and final registration night for West Seattle Little League, 7 pm, Room 212 at West Seattle High School.
As pointed out in comments on our report about several West Seattle incidents police investigated early today, SPDBlotter now has an item on the “shots fired at house” case in the 1800 block of SW Dawson (map). No injuries, no arrest(s) reported so far. (An automated feed of the newest WS items from SPDBlotter is part of the WSB Crime Watch page, so whatever they post will go there first.)
Lots of West Seattle activity on the police scanner these past couple hours – one report from someone in Highland Park who thought someone fired shots at his house, another call about possible shots heard closer to the Westwood area, beer getting shoplifted from the 16th/Holden 7-11 … Then, NOT from the scanner, Lisa e-mailed a firsthand report of a “sparkler bomb” in Admiral:
I live in Admiral by the PCC and had a “sparkler bomb” explode in the parking strip in front of my house about an hour ago. My house is swarming with about 5-6 police right now collecting all the fragments. It was crazy scary. There is a hole in my parking strip and fragments up to my front porch and 2 houses beyond. The police think it’s random, and have a suspect.
Lisa’s not sure if that suspect is in custody yet, though. (We will of course follow up with police.) Meantime, one other e-mail mentions hearing “explosions” in the Admiral area around 2 am, most likely the same incident. Five months ago, something similar happened in Highland Park; here’s our report about that one (be sure to read the comments, which brought out a lot of information about what a “sparkler bomb” is).
Out of the WSB inbox, from Hillary in Arbor Heights, who called the police to report the car break-ins and then sent this to share with you:
I wanted to get the word out that both my husband’s and my cars were broken into last night. We are at 42nd Ave SW and 100th (map). Our GPS units were stolen, some change, and a phone charger (for a phone which was not in the car, so the charger is USELESS to the moron – but I need it since my phone has been discontinued).
We’ve lived here for less than a year, after a big move from the east coast. My husband uses his GPS for work, and I use it because I’m still becoming familiar with the area. We feel extremely violated and are wishing we were back east right about now.
I won’t expound on how I feel about the jerk who did this. But at least we can help others.
The Seattle Police website offers very basic information about deterring car break-ins; however, as we mentioned in our story about the November meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, law enforcers say it’s optimal not to leave anything in your car that even hints at a GPS system – even suction cups with nothing visible might give someone impetus to break in to look under the seat or in the glovebox. By the way, the WSCPC meets again this Tuesday night (7 pm at the Southwest Precinct), and there’s always a local police rep in attendance, to share info about the latest local crime trends AND to answer questions personally.
Got a couple notes last night about a police search/containment operation along the Fauntleroy side of Lincoln Park, but the units were gone when we went to check it out. So this morning we got the scoop from Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen: Two juveniles tried to steal beer from the Lincoln Park 76 station (map). As they ran, the clerk hit one with a bottle. They still managed to get away; no arrests so far.
Just received multiple e-mails about a police search in Highland Park/White Center that may involve a car that’s up on the curb at 9th and Roxbury (that’s according to Tom; CatP wrote in the WSB Forums “something about a suspect run to the ground in the 9200 block of 13th SW; another forum post says police told neighbors the person they’re looking for is NOT armed). Working to find out information now. Anything you’re seeing or hearing, please add in comments. 8:58 PM UPDATE: Scene was clear when we went through but Zack has the scoop in comments: Stolen car crashed into house, suspect caught. Thanks, Zack!
One’s from Morgan Junction, the other from Fairmount Springs – read on:Read More
(photo from state Ecology Department website)
Posted at the P-I site tonight: An estimated $20 million in diesel is missing from the BP terminal on Harbor Island (1652 SW Lander; map), and police are investigating. ADDED 8:41 PM: As Scott points out in comments, there was a multimillion-dollar fuel-theft case on Harbor Island just a few years ago. Different fuel depot, according to this story about the resolution of that case. (A little more background on that case here.)
Two reports of incidents over the past week — a Fauntlee Hills break-in and Jefferson Square car vandalism — read on:Read More
That is one of four Seattle Police-created maps, each tracking a certain category of crime in the area covered by the Southwest Precinct — West Seattle and South Park — over the Dec. 8-Jan. 4 period, just received and circulated by Pete Spalding via the Pigeon Point Council e-mail list. (The letter/number designations are the official names of the patrol sectors in the precinct’s coverage area.) As far as we know, these aren’t available online, but Pete confirmed he was encouraged to share them with neighbors, and certainly you’re a neighbor. Read on to see the other three:Read More
That photo (by Sage K) is from a long night back in May, when we and many WSB’ers stayed up into the night tracking the situation on Delridge (original coverage here) as police tried to find the person who shot a mother and her 10-year-old son, from outside their home. Today, we learn that new indictments say the shooting was meant to intimidate the older victim out of testifying in a federal case. This was first reported last night by KING5, but the online story didn’t mention West Seattle or Delridge, so we didn’t catch it, but Stephanie e-mailed us the link today, wondering if it was the same case. We checked with local U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Emily Langlie, who confirmed that the May shooting mentioned in the story was indeed the West Seattle case, and sent us the indictment documents. Not only do the indictments cover that shooting, describing the mother as a “government witness,” but they also detail the alleged stolen-car/parts ring that’s at the heart of the case; it had been under investigation even before the shooting, the main suspect, DeVaughn “Buster” Dorsey, accused of being involved in the operation of a “chop shop” in a garage at an apartment complex at 7535 24th SW (map). The documents say this operation ended in May, about a week and a half after the Delridge shooting – Dorsey’s been behind bars since 5/23/2008 — and list more than a dozen specific vehicles. Counts 21 and 22 have just been added to a pre-existing indictment, and they’re the ones involving the shooting, for which Dorsey is charged with witness tampering and “discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.” Both shooting victims have recovered; we checked state court records to see if Dorsey has a criminal history — his name is listed (for civil proceedings as well as criminal) for 170 cases in the past 20 years. He’s due in court to answer these charges next Thursday. ADDED 4:23 PM UPDATE: Uploaded the entire indictment so you can read it if you’re interested – there’s no confidential info but lots of details.
Several quick Crime Watch reports to share from the past few days. We start with the Saga of the Stolen Santa. Kirsten in North Admiral sent the photo of the “Old World Santa” at left and wrote: “(Tuesday) when I got home from work I noticed that the Old World Santa I display yearly had been stolen from my front porch. Normally I would not get upset about a material thing but the more I got to thinking about it, the more upset I have become. The Santa was my Mother’s who is now deceased and prior to my display, she had done so for many years prior. Each year when I’d put it out, it helped keep my memory of her alive and in a little way made the holidays a bit more bearable. The likelihood is that some kids took off with it but I thought that by sending this in, there is a chance I may get it back. It’s about 2.5 – 3 feet tall and 30 lbs or so.” Seen this Santa? Send us a note (editor@westseattleblog.com) and we’ll forward it to Kirsten. Ahead: Another stolen item whose owner hopes to get it back, and a stolen item that WAS retrieved, plus other reports:Read More
West Seattle businesses are on alert tonight after two were burglarized overnight. WSB has confirmed with Circa in the Admiral District and Cupcake Royale in The Junction that both were broken into. At Circa, burglars stole the safe, but the restaurant tells WSB there wasn’t much money inside; they also took the restaurant’s official iPod, which was used to play music at Circa. At Cupcake Royale, we were told the burglars didn’t make off with the safe, but did get some money. The door through which they broke in had to be replaced – that work was just finishing when we went by to talk with them about what happened. We have an inquiry out with the Southwest Precinct seeking further details about these break-ins and about any progress toward arrests.
New information about the Admiral 7-11 robbery attempt we covered last weekend, which was quickly followed by the arrest of three suspects who police believe were involved with a series of holdups, mostly at convenience stores, in West Seattle and White Center (among other areas) over the past month: First, to be clear, as we originally reported, court documents indicate it was a robbery attempt; no money was taken and the would-be robber fled when the clerk ran into the restroom and called police. Two charges are now filed against the suspect who authorities say actually tried to rob the store, 18-year-old Jose G. Torres: He is charged with first-degree attempted robbery and unlawful gun possession – charging papers say he had a 38-caliber handgun but shouldn’t have, since he was already a convicted felon. The following excerpt from charging papers tells the story of what happened early Sunday morning – including an explanation of how police made the arrests so quickly:Read More
We bring you the crimefighting successes as well as the crime-alert stories, and here’s the latest – from Officer Brian Ballew at West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct:
In early December a parking garage condominium on SW Avalon was burglarized. The victim had her bicycle stolen. The victim located the bike on Craig’s List and met the seller in the Downtown area. The victim took the bike for a test drive, verified it was hers by the serial number and kept the bike.
On 01/03 the victim notified SW Detectives that the same seller was selling another bike on Craig’s List. Detectives called the seller as a potential buyer and met the seller in the downtown area. When detectives met the seller, the victim was with detectives in a nearby vehicle and positively identified the seller as the same person who tried to sell her, her stolen bike. The seller was arrested and booked for trafficking stolen property.
This car-burglary report actually came in from KB last night, while the snow was still falling fast and furious:
Near 32nd and Kenyon [map]: Windows smashed in and radio stolen, but no other items. (lots of CDs and a jacket left inside)
As you’ll note in the stories linked from the WSB West Seattle Crime Watch page, car-targeting crooks seem to be on more of a rampage than ever.
Two quick updates on the arrests of three armed-robbery suspects in the Admiral District — believed linked to a series of holdups around the area over the past month — as first reported here yesterday morning: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says bail hearings are planned for the three later today; Seattle Police note that they believe more robbers were involved in some of the crimes, so they are looking for other suspects.
The Seattle Police media unit has just provided an update on the three robbery suspects whose North Admiral arrests we reported this morning (after overnight coverage here):Read More
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