Crime 7259 results

Thanks to Christopher Bell for sending the link — the case wasn’t on our radar: The P-I reports a man was found guilty yesterday in the deadly shooting of 14-year-old David Chhin, who was shot in August 2003 while riding his bike at 35th/Juneau. (Coincidentally, just five blocks west of there, at High Point Pond Park at 11 this morning, the community is gathering for a Youth Blessing Ceremony, in hopes this summer will be a peaceful one.)

Crime Watch reader report: Burglary on 35th

June 24, 2008 11:09 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Karen:

I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area today, in the 5000 block of 35th Ave SW, mid-block, on the west side of the street. It occurred sometime between 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM while the owners were gone. The burglars entered through a window & took small electronics & other things that are easy to carry.

Our Blockwatch area covers a two block area just south of Providence/Mt. St. Vincent, between Dawson & Hudson streets. It is called the Hansen View neighborhood, which is part of Fairmount.

Thanks for getting the word out!

Crime Watch reader report: Where the rubber meets the vandal(s)

June 24, 2008 12:08 pm

| 12 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox from Kendall:

I feel somewhat silly reporting this. It seems so trivial compared to the serious crime reported on the blog, but my wife and I both had flat tires this morning. Apparently, we have some “harmless” vandals in the neighborhood-the north Admiral neighborhood. This is the second time it has happened in the last two months. The perpetrators flattened one tire per car and were even so kind as to replace the valve stem caps before scurrying off into the darkness. We do not know if these have been random acts or if we are the targets of someone’s ill will.

The first time it happened, my wife assumed (as anyone would) that it was a flat tire and not merely a deflated tire. She took it to Barnecut’s to have it repaired. Of course, they could find no leak. The young man working that day mentioned that there had been other people in the neighborhood with the same problem and suggested that it was some bored kids. Other than his saying so, we have no idea if this is the case.

The first incident happened several weeks ago and we imagined it an isolated event. This morning we were surprised to find both of our cars with flat tires. We park in the alley behind our house. Although it is just one block off California Avenue, it is a quiet, dead end alley. To the best of our knowledge, our nearby neighbors are not experiencing this problem.

It’s not the end of the world, but it is not fun to come out to your car in the morning and find a flat tire. Luckily, we have an air compressor so the vandals are not creating as much trouble for us as they imagine. I am sure our neighbors don’t appreciate my need to run the compressor at 7:00 AM, but at least we can solve the problem without putting on a spare.

Of course, we are thankful that they are not puncturing the tires, breaking into the cars, or engaging in some more seriously damaging activity, but it is a nuisance.

We don’t really have a clear understanding of whether the architects of this annoyance are targeting us directly or if this is a rash in our neighborhood. We’d like to think that we are random victims. We’re nice people and have done nothing to warrant this kind of special attention.

We are just wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood has experienced the same problem.

Crime Watch reader report: Watch for would-be-burglars team

June 23, 2008 12:59 pm

| 7 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from BG:

Yesterday (6/22) an attempted burglary was successfully thwarted on the 9000 block of 13th Avenue SW [map]. At approximately noon on Sunday, I was in my home office when I noticed three youths engaging in suspicious activity across the street in my neighborâ€™s driveway. With one youth serving as a lookout, the other two removed the screen from our neighborâ€™s kitchen window and attempted to enter the house. The neighbors were away for the weekend.

I immediately called 911 and police arrived in time to apprehend one of the suspects. Two suspects escaped and were not apprehended. I was shocked by the brazen attempt to burglarize our neighborâ€™s home in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon. These three juveniles have been recently observed by others in the area looking into cars and appearing to case houses. I urge you to keep an eye out for them in your neighborhood. Their physical descriptions are as follows:

1. Female, juvenile (14 â€“ 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5â€™ 5â€™â€™, stocky build. Short hair, worn in a bun in the back of the head. Last seen wearing tight blue jeans, and a tight black top.
2. Male, juvenile (14 â€“ 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5â€™ 8â€™â€™, muscular build. Last seen wearing baggy shorts, a dark oversized coat, and an orange knit stocking cap.
3. Male, juvenile (14 â€“ 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5â€™ 10â€™â€™, muscular build. Last seen wearing baggy shorts, a dark oversized coat, and a red baseball cap.

These three juveniles work as a team. The female has been observed walking in our neighborhood on the more than one occasion, and serves as a lookout for the male juveniles. Vigilance made the difference on our block yesterday and the West Seattle Blog deserves credit for making us all more aware of suspicious activity in our neighborhood.

And in turn we hat-tip to West Seattle’s police force at the Southwest Precinct, which is trailblazing for the whole city by aggressively advocating this kind of watchfulness and repeatedly reminding us all not to hesitate calling 911 for ANY kind of suspicious activity as it happens. If a life’s not at risk, the response time depends on what else is going on, but as we were reminded in a recent chat with precinct leaders, thorough and complete crime reports at the very least help them decide where to best deploy their people when they’re planning schedules and emphasis patrols.

Crime Watch reader report: Time to put up a sign for car prowlers?

June 22, 2008 8:51 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Tiffany D:

Just wanted to put the word out. Someone broke into one of our vehicles (again!!) which was parked in our driveway on 41st Ave. SW (near the high school) They started rummaging, but I think may have been scared off. Nothing appears to have been taken. This same vehicle was stolen (and recovered) about two years ago. Another car of ours has been repeatedly broken into over the years.

Weâ€™re thinking of printing up signs and put in the cars that say “Aren’t you bored of us yet? Nothing new here.”

Anyway – keep the doors locked and aware.

Early-morning car crash damages Emma Schmitz Viewpoint

June 22, 2008 11:40 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Photos at Beach Drive Blog — damage includes a bench, greenery, and sign. We were up late and saw a “heavy rescue” call on the 911 log for 4520 Beach, but it closed shortly after the initial 3:40 am call, and scanner traffic didn’t suggest anything major going on, so we didn’t go; it was followed by an aid call for almost the same address 22 minutes later.

Details: King County Sheriff’s budget warning (and jail talk)

June 21, 2008 2:41 am

| 6 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle jail sites

Click To Play

That’s King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, talking about one of the budget cuts she may have to make if the county’s budget picture still looks ugly by fall; she says the thought of having to stop investigating certain kinds of crimes makes her “sick.” She spoke Friday night at SeaTac City Hall, in one of several public meetings she’s called to talk about potential effects of massive budget cuts ordered by county leadership; the possible cuts in the criminal-justice system could affect West Seattle not only through services the county provides for the city such as prosecution, but also because many of the cuts would have to be made in the ranks that serve unincorporated areas such as White Center, right next door. But the first headline of the night for West Seattle interests was what the sheriff had to say when asked about the jail-sites situation – and that’s where our full report begins;Read More

Officer attacked in High Point: Two updates

June 21, 2008 12:14 am

| 22 COMMENTS

| Crime | High Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

First: Thanks to Pokey for posting this in the comments section of our last update: The Times says the two 16-year-old boys and one 17-year-old girl arrested in the Tuesday night attack are charged with assault and obstruction of justice, and the one who tried to take away the officer’s gun is also charged with attempting to disarm an officer. Will try to find out what the possible sentencing range would be for juveniles convicted of those charges. Second: The High Point Neighborhood website has posted a statement from High Point (Seattle Housing Authority) management, saying “… the tenants involved … appear to be in serious violation of the lease” and promising “swift action” against those tenants.

County sheriff says West Seattle jail would “waste taxpayers’ $”

June 20, 2008 8:11 pm

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| Crime | West Seattle jail sites

… and so would either of the other two jail sites, for that matter. Sheriff Sue Rahr was asked about the jail controversy during the meeting she called tonight in SeaTac to talk about possible massive budget cuts in the county’s criminal-justice system. She says it’s her “personal opinion as your elected sheriff” that the county should “build out” the Regional Justice Center in Kent instead and that cities shouldn’t be in the jail business, period. More on that, and what else she had to say about the possible cuts – which could affect everyone in King County, though particularly our White Center neighbors for whom the county provides on-the-street law enforcement — when we write up our full report later tonight. Side note, lovely view from the south side of the SeaTac City Hall parking lot:

Happening tonight: Sheriff’s meeting on county budget cuts

June 20, 2008 9:31 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety

As mentioned in our first report on this, the meeting’s not in West Seattle, but many of these possible county cuts affect public safety/criminal justice in our area (as well as on-the-street law enforcement in neighboring White Center) so it’s an important issue for West Seattle as well: King County Sheriff Sue Rahr‘s public meeting about the situation she headlines as “Public Safety in Peril” is 6 pm tonight at SeaTac City Hall (map/get directions). Read the full meeting notice (including toplines on possible cuts) here.

Officer attacked in High Point: More details, from police report

June 18, 2008 9:46 pm

| 53 COMMENTS

| Crime | High Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

We’re at the Southwest Precinct, where — after the Delridge District Council meeting wrapped up (details on that later) — we got to see the early draft of the report on last night’s High Point incident that left a police officer badly hurt. Here are the basics:Read More

Community Safety Partnership tonight: Name change and more

June 17, 2008 11:59 pm

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| Crime | Safety | Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council | West Seattle jail sites | West Seattle news

It’s the last time we’ll be able to tell you about the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership … because its monthly meeting tonight at the Southwest Precinct ended with a new name. That and other info from the meeting, ahead:Read More

Reader report: Car damaged in Alki rampage

June 17, 2008 8:04 pm

| 59 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle beaches | West Seattle news

Alki’s David Hutchinson just sent these photos along with this report:

I donâ€™t know the cause but just before 7 pm a very large group of teens (50+) came running down 59th SW and headed west down Alki Ave towards Spud. They climbed over fences and trampled the flowers in front of Spud. Several climbed onto the roof of a white car parked in front of Spuds and then stomped up and down on the hood (see attached photos of the damage).

Here’s David’s other photo:

Not sure if we will be able to get followup from the Southwest Precinct before tomorrow (we will see if the rest of the team can find out anything from the police reps at the Community Safety Partnership meeting that’s under way now) — ironically, the briefing we attended at City Hall this afternoon largely focused on the fact that Alki is the traditional “area of emphasis” for police now that it’s summer, and they are responding to many more incidents detected “on-view” (in person) than are reported via 911 — which as Councilmember Tim Burgess noted, is the way community policing is supposed to be done. (More details on that briefing later; first we’re writing up the parks-levy hearing, which just concluded after two hours — twice as long as it was scheduled for.)

ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: May or may not be related but definitely a case of Alki vandalism if not possibly also “car prowl” — Chris took this photo of a car parked by Whale Tail this morning with its windows smashed out:

West Seattle High School burglary update: More arrests

June 17, 2008 9:57 am

| 5 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Five people now have been arrested for the break-in early yesterday at West Seattle HS (original WSB report here, followed by a comment explaining that “the burglars stole items from our special-education students”). Sgt. Jeff Durden at the Southwest Precinct just provided these details: “During the initial incident, one arrest was made of an adult West Seattle High school student. He brought the four other other West Seattle High students into the SW Precinct around 2 pm yesterday. All of the student/suspects are cooperating with both detectives and the school. All property is in the process of being returned.”

Crime Watch: Latest reports; plus, hear from the new captain

June 17, 2008 2:56 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Before we get to the latest highlights of reports from the Southwest Precinct, we wanted to mention you have two chances today to hear from Captain Joe Kessler, who has been running the SWP for more than two months now (we first caught up with him on his first day in the office, April 9th): At 2 pm today, he and other SW Precinct leaders will be at City Hall downtown to brief the City Council’s Public Safety, Human Services, and Education Committee on crime trends and other issues/achievements in our area; you can watch live on the Seattle Channel (on-air or online), and we’ll be there to cover it, too. Then tonight at 7 pm, Capt. Kessler will be at the monthly West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting — which always includes an all-star lineup of local police leaders, but he hasn’t had a chance to join them yet. This is also the monthly meeting where you can come ask police about any concerns in your neighborhood; a new name likely will be chosen before the night’s out, too (here’s our report on previous suggestions); you can see the agenda here — including a list of phone numbers you might want to keep handy for neighborhood nuisances as well as crime-related problems. Now, on to a few notable incidents from reports processed over the last several days (there’s often a day or more of lag time, so this doesn’t include incidents from most of Sunday, or Monday), including two scam reports and the latest home/car break-ins:Read More

Reader report: Water balloon hits car on Fairmount

June 16, 2008 4:39 pm

| 16 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news

Just in from Molly, who’s also of course alerting police:

Just a few minutes ago (4:14 to be exact) I was driving up Fairmount Avenue from the beach when my windshield was hit by a water balloon. It wasn’t from the bridge above as I was more south than that. Just wanted to let you know…

And this sort of thing isn’t exactly harmless child’s play, as noted in a similar report we published two months ago.

Police confirm arrest in early-morning West Seattle HS burglary

June 16, 2008 10:09 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Police confirm a break-in early this morning at West Seattle High School – Victoria tells WSB there was quite the commotion on her section of Walnut between about 3:30 am and 5:30 am, when a car apparently related to the investigation was finally towed; Lt. Steve Paulsen at the Southwest Precinct says one “adult” was arrested and they suspect “some seniors (were) involved as well.” Thanks also to Todd for pointing out this brief online citywide-media report, which suggests the burglars had targeted computer equipment.

2 reader reports: Smash-grab burglary; surprise sleeper

June 13, 2008 10:30 pm

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| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news

Two more reports to share from the WSB inbox:Read More

Crime Watch reader report: Burglary with unusual loot to look for

June 13, 2008 12:07 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Susan, who hopes you’ll keep an eye out for the unusual items stolen from her:

Bummed to report that my house (off Charlestown near Schmitz Park) was broken into yesterday. Came home from work to discover a slashed screen, window popped out of place. They must have been on foot because all they took were the contents of my change jar and a little safe.

I’m bummed about the safe–and the burglars are going to be bummed, too–because it held all the spare change from my travels around the world. Which is to say, if the burglars thought they were getting another pile of
quarters, they are sorely mistaken, as they got a bunch of coins from around the world, coins that the bank won’t even convert back to U.S. currency. Sentimental value only.

The safe was a gift–it was made out of an old P.O. box. I’m picturing it on the side of the road somewhere; or perhaps dumped in Schmitz Park. If any of your readers find a small old PO box safe, please put them in touch! [WSB note: E-mail or call us if you see it]

And hurrah for my neighbors, who saw the commotion (three police cars responded) and came over to check in on me.

Possible county crimefighting cuts: Meeting announced

June 12, 2008 11:47 am

| 11 COMMENTS

| Crime | Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | Safety

Though this is from the King County Sheriff, whose crimefighting turf starts just over the line in White Center, it’s part of a larger county criminal-justice-funding concern that in the end could affect us all – since, for example, it’s county prosecutors who handle city crimes too – so we wanted to share this announcement of an upcoming public meeting you might want to attend:Read More

West Seattle Crime Watch: Girl approached; squatters booted…

June 11, 2008 11:50 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

The WSB inbox has been devoid of first-person crime reports lately, so when we dropped by the Southwest Precinct this afternoon to check the latest police reports, we asked Lt. Steve Paulsen if things are indeed as quiet as they seem. Not entirely crime-free, as you’ll see in this report, but yes (knock wood), it’s been relatively quiet. After more than a dozen burglary arrests, for example, they think the word’s starting to get out on the street that you’re not so likely to get away with it in West Seattle. That said, we’ve got some summaries to share, including burglaries and car break-ins as well as the search for a man who tried to lure a girl into his car, gang-affiliated squatters getting the boot, more cases of alert witnesses helping foil crimes, and more – all from a full week’s worth of reports:Read More

Update: GameStop armed robbery suspect arrested

June 5, 2008 2:50 pm

| 25 COMMENTS

| Crime | Highland Park | WS breaking news

(photo added 3:40 pm)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Thanks to those who have called/e-mailed about the major police presence in the 16th/Trenton vicinity (map) and beyond — police tell us they are looking for an armed-robbery suspect who got away on foot. Working to get info on what/where was robbed. 3 PM UPDATE: More information from Detective Nick Bauer at SWP: Officers are going through neighborhoods in the late 8000s/9000 block areas of 16th and 17th looking for the robber, who held up the GameStop store on Roxbury with a gun. He even pointed the gun at an officer at one point but managed to get away. We’ll keep you updated on the search as we find out more. 3:18 PM UPDATE: Lt. Steve Paulsen just confirmed that the suspect has been arrested. 3:33 PM UPDATE: GameStop has this sign on the front door.

Police were still inside the store interviewing employees about the incident as of 3:20 pm. We have a phone call and email into their coporate headquarters in Texas to see when the store might reopen.

Update: Southwest Precinct info on Camp Long molestation report

June 5, 2008 10:58 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

As promised last night, we have more information from the Southwest Precinct today regarding a 12-year-old girl reporting being molested during a field trip at Camp Long last week. Lt. Steve Paulsen tells WSB that the incident was reported through the North Precinct, which is the area where the victim lives; SWP and the Special Assault Unit are now investigating. “We take incidents such as this very seriously,” Lt. Paulsen adds, and says his staff will get a schedule of events such as field trips and group activities at Camp Long so they can keep an extra eye out.