West Seattle, Washington
22 Friday
KING 5 reported tonight (see the clip here) that a hearing on Monday could close the case of the June 2005 W. Marginal Way shooting death of Mike Robb, a West Seattle resident who coached tennis at Newport High School – with his killer declared not guilty by reason of insanity. (More background on the case in this September 2006 Times article; KING reported tonight that the lawsuit discussed in that story, against the killer’s parents, has been settled.)
Or should we say, cases and casings … Just spent some time on the phone with Detective Nick Bauer from the Southwest Precinct, and he provided updates on some recent cases reported here, as well as a new one for which police could use your eyes and ears:Read More
This time, though, arrests are reported, thanks in part to alert neighbors. The report comes from Scott, who was away from home when the burglary happened on Sunday, but says he’s just across the alley from this burglary (7300 block 35th SW) reported here 3 days earlier:
So, from what we’ve heard someone (4 of them) attempted to break into our house today.
They backed their vehicle up our driveway and went around the back to break into a door on the backside of the house, first attempting to get into the side garage window first. While this was happening -3- of our neighbors were already on the phone calling 911 !
The police caught 2 of the guys, both in their early 20s. Obviously our house is being watched!
I’m really surprised that they attempted to hit our house; it’s a lot more open than the house across the alley from us! No trees to block the view of our house, wide-open driveway, and obviously LOTS of neighbors watching!
First reader report: Officers with guns drawn earlier this morning at 46th/Andover. We are checking on that. 9:21 AM UPDATE: Sgt. Jeff Durden at the Southwest Precinct says “911 call of a man in a back yard with a shotgun. Turned out it was only an air rifle and the intent was to shoot a woodpecker.”
Second reader report: Burglary yesterday. Here’s what Joe e-mailed to WSB this morning:
We live on the 7300 block 35th Ave SW, I went home from work to meet a service technician at 12:30 pm and found that we had been burglarized. Entry through broken window. two tvs, two cameras, laptop, misc stuff . One tv was lying on floor as if the burglars were scared off before the were done. This happened between 9:oo am and 12:30 pm and nobody saw anything.
Update: A few folks asked about a followup on the two-car crash at 35th/Thistle the other night. It’s close to impossible to get an update on the victim’s condition — privacy laws have tightened in recent years so media cannot just call up a hospital and say “somebody was brought in from a crash, how are they” — but Sgt. Durden says the crash did NOT turn fatal. As for the cause, he says one of the drivers had run the red light, and was cited.
Early Sunday, we posted 3 reader reports about gunshots at 17th/Trenton and promised to follow up with the Southwest Precinct. Just heard back from Sgt. Jeff Durden, who shared this info from the report: A 22-year-old was having a party for a friend’s birthday; “uninvited guests” showed up, a fight ensued, “several rounds” were fired into the air. The shooter(s) took off. No arrests, no injury, no property damage … no description of the suspects’ car, either. Regarding readers’ reports that this house had problems before, Sgt. Durden, who leads the Community Police Team, says it wasn’t on their radar but CPT officer Adonis Topacio will investigate — that’s who to contact (info here) if you have info to share.
From the P-I: 32nd SW burglar(s) made off with $7,500 in athletic shoes.
From CL: Laptop stolen from a car in The Junction, but the owner doesn’t care so much about the laptop, just really needs the accompanying hard-to-replace notebook back.
Just got three messages about this in rapid succession: Shots fired and police searching in a Westwood neighborhood. (location map) Here’s one note:
Heard multiple rounds of gunshots interspersed with several people yelling outside. Called the police, who reported other calls had been received for same disturbance. Have yet to see any signs of the police- however can still hear some yelling. Curious if anyone has any details on exactly what is going on/happened- or if police responded.
That reader mentioned 17th/Cloverdale as the location; this next note has more details:
MANY gun shots were just fired in association with a house party at a notorious drug/party rental house. There are at least 5 police cars on the scene right now. 17th & Trenton. The house is (in the 8600 block of) 17th Ave SW. This is the 3rd police activity at the residence in the past year.
And here’s the third note received:
About 11:40 pm this evening there were about 12 shots fired. Directly after the shots were fired two cars sped north on 17th. Police responded right away. There were several police cars on our block investigating the scene. Just an FYI. It was rather frightening.
Monitoring the scanner now, will update if anything more comes in about this. (Likely unrelated but a WS police team has just been dispatched to a report of a “large group” fighting outside Morgan Junction Tully’s.)
So we checked with the Southwest Precinct after getting this e-mail yesterday from Sunny:
Our house was broken into on Tax Day :(
We’re on the 7900 block of 12th Ave SW and both the officer and I suspect the same bra-flinging/pizza-eating group. The thieves helped themselves to some candy and a Coke and made off with some replaceable electronics. They rummaged through my lingerie and really ripped the bedroom apart. The officer walked away with LOTS of evidence which I hope is enough to catch the thieves. I am annoyed about having to replace my pricey toys, but just sick over someone invading our home.
Sgt. Jeffrey Durden at SWP says there’s “no real leads, yet” on the “bra-scattering” burglar. However, he did have more details on the burglary suspect we mentioned in this report from Tuesday night’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting: “Thanks to good investigative work by patrol officers — three different officers lifted the same suspect’s fingerprints at residential burglary scenes –” prosecutors are expected to seek charges against the suspect, who’s currently in custody in Florida, in three burglaries from the past few months.
That’s a look inside Puget Sound Key and Lock in Morgan Junction while owner Michael Dein was there this morning to talk to news crews about what’s happened since the firebombing 4 weeks ago. As you can see, the view hasn’t changed much. But he’s managed to keep working by going mobile — he talked about that, and about how little time he would need to get set up again, once his landlord’s insurance coverage (for the structure, not his destroyed business) comes through:
Dein will be on hand for the fundraiser/raffle event that WSB Forum Community members are having Saturday night at Admiral Pub. One more clip … in which he shows the rock he says the firebomber(s) used … plus raffle/fundraiser details (including the list of what’s up for grabs so far!) … ahead:Read More
Look for coverage from all four TV stations and the P-I – that’s who came to the arson-gutted Puget Sound Key and Lock site in Morgan Junction this morning for an interview availability with owner Michael Dein, updating what’s been happening with him and his business since last month’s still-unsolved firebombing, and looking ahead to Saturday night’s Admiral Pub fundraiser/raffle, organized by WSB Forum Community members. The Forum Community also organized this morning’s interview opportunity and was represented on-site by JoB and Kathy, seen in the second photo above, talking with the KOMO 4 News crew. Full WSB story, with video, to come in a separate post. 1:29 PM UPDATE: Here’s a link to the first TV story to appear online, the noon coverage from KING5’s Roberta Romero. 5:37 PM UPDATE: Here’s the P-I story.
One more update from last night’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting (see the traffic-improvements report and added car-prowl details below): Community Police Team officer Adonis Topacio says at least three recent local burglaries have been linked to a suspect with a criminal history — and right now, Topacio said, he’s in custody in Florida, where he had gone to visit relatives even though leaving the state was a probation violation. Police are working to see how many burglaries in all might be linked to this suspect; this time, Topacio said, “looks like he’s going to be spending a lot of time in jail.”
This time, the alert comes straight from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ Southwest Precinct, who asked that we share this with you:
(Starting with the recent spring vacations), the Harbor Ave SW area has been inundated with carprowls … The suspects are bold and aggressive. They will wait for vehicles to park, then once the owner leaves they commit their crime. The suspects are prowling cars parked on the street and local businesses. We are working this issue aggressively with patrols and followup work from our detectives. We hope to get some success out of this. Citizens need to be reminded to keep valuables out of cars, particularly laptops.
We’d second that one, having seen countless cases of car break-ins where laptops, iPods, and GPS systems were the loot. 9:07 PM UPDATE: Just back from the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting, where we learned more about this — Officer Brian Ballew said last night alone, there were about half a dozen in the Salty’s vicinity during a 2-hour period; there’s surveillance video showing possible suspects so that’s being reviewed now.
HOW’S THE CITY SPENDING YOUR MONEY? The Bridging the Gap Citizen Oversight Committee is having its quarterly meeting tonight in West Seattle, 6:30 pm @ Youngstown Arts Center. Read more about the committee and the meeting here. They keep an eye on how the city is spending the money from the BTG levy.
“TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT” QUESTIONS? IDEAS? Luke Korpi, senior engineer with the city Transportation Department, is the guy to ask/tell – and tonight, he’s the guest at the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership monthly meeting, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct meeting room (Delridge & Webster, east of Home Depot). This is also the monthly meeting attended by key police personnel from SWP with briefings on West Seattle crime trends and opportunities for you to tell/ask them about concerns in your neighborhood.
Lots of e-mails asking about this one — after an intense helicopter/ground search over part of east West Seattle on Saturday night — finally got the info: Lt. Norm James at the Southwest Precinct says it started with a domestic-violence call, one person threatening another with a knife (in a situation where there already was a restraining order) — the victim was not hurt, but it took about an hour to find and arrest the suspect (Lt. James says the K-9 team made the capture in the 5300 block of 21st SW).
This just came in as a comment following the “bra-scattering burglar” West Seattle Crime Watch report five days ago; since most people won’t check in on comments from older items, we’re reposting it here:
He hit us too, we came home Friday night and found our house had been broken into as well (13th and Trenton) and I would guess it’s the same guy based on how he operated. The underwear drawers were all ransacked (but no underwear turned up in the driveway) and smaller electronics and such were taken. The weirdest thing was that he looked through our fridge and ate some leftover pizza while he was here (we’ve started referring to him as the Pizza Bandit). He was clearly in no hurry. He also had a coke and the police took the can with them to look for fingerprints. We can only hope he gets caught soon as obviously he is quite brazen. We’ll be installing security cameras this week in the event he decides to come back in the future. All in all a bad weekend!
Marc
We’ll be checking on this one with the Southwest Precinct tomorrow. Speaking of which, we posted a note on the Crime Watch page, but in case you were wondering (as were about half a dozen people who e-mailed us), we don’t yet have official information on what was at the heart of last night’s helicopter-accompanied search in Pigeon Point and environs – will let you know when we do.
Just got the latest newsletter from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow. The big highlight is something that’s often discussed here: the importance of staying watchful. Read it here (Word doc).
E-mailed late last night by Justin:
Just wanted to let our neighbors in the 9200 block of 12th Ave SW (Highland Park) know about our break-in . Sometime between 8:30 Monday morning and 5:30 Monday afternoon someone skinny broke one of our very small basement windows out and shimmied into our house. We lost very little (the window, a Dell laptop, a blue iPod shuffle and a Dell PDA) so we feel very lucky. The officer that stopped to take the report left with several liquor bottles that had been handled and a few batteries that were relocated in the house. None of the neighbors that were home this evening saw anything unfortunately. In addition the officer thought that the perpetrator was likely a juvenile due to the fact that they looked very carefully through our underwear drawers and scattered multiple brassieres around our driveway. The scene was so profound I backed my car into our rockery causing a minor fender bender in addition to our break-in. All in all a very troubling evening. If anyone thinks they have any information, call the southwest precinct and ask for Officer DeBella. Thanks.
Out of the inbox this afternoon from M:
Our house just got egged while we were playing a board game near 15th Ave SW & Thistle. We ran outside but didn’t see anyone. I haven’t heard about this kind of thing happening around here recently.
Here’s a map for that location.
Out of the inbox, from Rey:
I park my car in a lot below Bartell in the Admiral District. (Friday) a patrol car came into the lot with their lights flashing. I was actually fixing a rear window of my car and someone reported that someone (me) was breaking into the car. The officer told me they were having problems with thief in this lot. Ironically (the previous Saturday) I went to take my car out and left my truck in its place. When I came back my truck was broken into and my stereo and many of my tools were missing. I thought I would let you know to get out the warning.
We’ve reported a couple incidents in this lot in previous West Seattle Crime Watch reports in recent months.
Not just in West Seattle, but elsewhere in the metro area, you can now text a tip to CrimeStoppers — anonymously — the demo on this page explains how (and how it’s kept anonymous). Be sure to still call 911 when something’s happening NOW, though! (FRIDAY AFTERNOON ADDITION: Here’s today’s City of Seattle news release about Text-a-Tip.)
First, an update on the 37th SW burglaries reported here last night, from Block Watch Captain Karen:
The timeframe for the burglary in the 5000 block of 37th [last night] was sometime in the late afternoon/early evening, before 7:30 PM. One neighbor (who wishes to remain anonymous) told me today that, in hindsight, he may have seen the vehicle & one of the burglars around 5 PM. He has provided a report to the police.
The second burglary was in the north end of the 5200 block of 37th. The owners e-mailed to say that the burglars kicked in their French doors in the back of the house for entry. They ransacked the house, turned over the bed, went into pantry, closets, dressers, etc. They took items that were easy to take. The burglars put their dog in a bedroom & closed the door. One of the owners reports seeing a gray/silver color car with 4 teenage boys in it around noon, driving slowly & suspiciously on 37th. The burglary at their house took place in the afternoon between 1 & 4:30.
Also, a theft report to pass along, from BJ:
Just noticed that our street sign corner of Alaska and 50th is gone today. I caught some teenagers in the act a couple of years ago but didn’t catch them this time. It took 2 years to get a new sign the first time it was stolen.
BJ has since checked with the city, and is hopeful a replacement will arrive sooner this time, as her neighborhood is slated for those bigger street signs that have already been installed in many West Seattle neighborhoods (by the way, the old signs are still for sale).
These two notes appear to add up to three burglaries – we will check with the Southwest Precinct first thing in the morning. In the meantime, wanted to get out the word. First, just in from Karen, who’s a Block Watch Captain in her area:
I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area, the 5000 block of 37th SW, this evening. I believe that it occurred between 6 & 8 PM. We have also heard that there was a second break-in just one block south in the 5200 block of 37th.
The owners of the house in the 5000 block reported that their door was kicked in and the house was completely ransacked. A lot was taken, including jewelry and electronics. Also, two of their indoor cats were let out/escaped but have fortunately now been found.
This one came in a short time earlier from KP (and we were about to post it when Karen’s note came in):
I live on 37th Avenue SW and SW Brandon. I just talked with a neighbor on the 5200 block of 37th Ave SW who was burglarized today. She stated the whole house was tossed and they stole a TV, jewelry and a laptop. She said a house on the 5400 block had been broken into yesterday.
This area is southwest of The Mount, northeast of Fairmount Playfield. Here’s a map.
Just out of the inbox from Megan:
Our house was broken into today. We are in the 7300 block of 28th ave SW. They took the typical stuff … mostly electronics. The most disturbing part was all the rummaging they did; everything was thrown out of drawers, and the house was completely torn apart. They even tried to drill through a window, leaving it cracked but not broken out and broke our new plasma tv when they realized they couldn’t take it with them. The police indicated that this fit the profile of just wanting to damage property, not necessarily steal anything of value (nothing that they couldn’t walk away with). We are super bummed but no one was hurt, our pets were scared but safe and this is what insurance is for. It’s just a bummer that people are so disrespectful.
Here’s a map of that area.
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