Reader report from Amanda:

My Jeep truck was drilled right in my driveway next to my back door. Near 45th and Edmunds. $1,450 repair for $25 worth of gas. Approx. Feb 11. Sad.

(Reader photo, Sunday)

Back on Sunday, we reported on the arrest of an 38-year-old man after a reported burglary in the 4800 block of Beach Drive SW. The City Attorney’s Office subsequently charged the suspect, Christopher D. Montano, with a misdemeanor, 1st-degree criminal trespass. At Montano’s arraignment hearing today, according to court documents, the CAO asked that bail be set at $2500, but Judge Faye Chess ordered him released on personal recognizance. According to the police-report narrative in the case file, officers found him outside the house; he told them he had only gone inside for a few minutes and hadn’t taken anything. Officers say he told them he had burglarized that house before, so he was familiar with it, and that he was homeless, staying at a shelter, but looking for someplace “quiet.” He told officers he had gotten inside just by opening a door, but the housesitter, who had left an hour earlier, told them she had locked all the doors. Montano is due back in court in four weeks.

(Reader photo)

3:40 PM: Thanks for the tips and photo. Police converged on a house in the 4800 block of Beach Drive around 2:30 pm after a report of a suspected burglary in progress. They confirmed the house had been broken into – no one was home at the time – and arrested a man they found on the property. No other details so far. The 38-year-old suspect was reported by dispatch to have at least one warrant, for a misdemeanor case in Snohomish County.

6:53 PM: The suspect has been booked into the King County Jail, the roster shows.

5:03 PM: Thanks for the tip. The door is boarded up at Classic Cut Barbershop on the northwest corner of 35th/Roxbury because of a burglary. We went over to follow up on the tip, and they told us it happened around 2 am today, but the burglar left without getting anything; an alarm went off in the building, and the owners of a neighboring business let them know. If you have any information, the SPD incident # is 25-042352.

ADDED 5:31 PM: Classic Cut Barbershop proprietor Feras just sent us the photo above, showing the mess before the door was boarded up, and two short clips below showing the burglar:

Three more West Seattle Crime Watch notes:

‘PROLIFIC SHOPLIFTER’ CHARGED: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges this week against 28-year-old Christopher K. Takata, described as a “prolific shoplifter who has routinely targeted businesses in North Seattle, Downtown Seattle, and West Seattle.” He also frequently alters his appearance – above are some of the photos from the charging documents.In the case of the two counts of organized retail theft just filed against Takata, they involved an investigation into nine thefts over 77 days from Ulta Beauty stores including the one in Westwood Village, in 2023 and 2024, with a loss totaling more than $8,000. Investigators say Takata usually steals fragrances, and has an arrest/conviction record with more than 30 incidents – not just theft – going back to 2011, when he was 15. What we don’t know is where Takata is now; his most recent local booking was at the SCORE misdemeanor jail, booked January 31 and released the next day. Store employees and managers are quoted in the charging documents as saying they know him on sight; a manager at the North Seattle Ulta store estimated he’d taken a cumulative total of $42,000+ from that store alone.

ROBBERY SUSPECT RELEASED: The man arrested in an incident that caught attention at a busy intersection last Sunday has been released without charges being filed, though they are still a future possibility. The arrest happened on Sunday afternoon at the Fauntleroy/Alaska intersection; the police-report narrative says the incident started a few blocks east, in the 3600 block of SW Alaska, as a dispute over a cell phone. One man took it from the other and allegedly threatened to shoot the other one, which is what made it a robbery. The victim chased him to the intersection, which is where police got involved; they found the 65-year-old suspect inside the T-Mobile store. He was found to have a pocket knife, but not a gun. He spent three days in jail before being released; the narrative says the victim did not want to press charges.

GARAGE BURGLARY: Reader report, received tonight from Sara:

I wanted to alert my Seaview neighbors to a garage break-in. They took all my power tools, batteries and made a mess. This happened sometime Thursday night or Friday morning ( 2/13-2/14). I wanted to give special thanks to my neighbor(s) who reported it to SPD. I was working all night and didn’t know about the break in until I got home in the morning. Thank you, neighbors, for looking out for me! I’m so grateful.

P.S. Your next chance to talk with police at a local community meeting is likely Thursday (February 20), the monthly Alki Community Council meeting, 7 pm at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds).

(Seattle Police photo, early Thursday)

We just checked on the status of the 28-year-old woman jailed for suspected drunk driving after hitting a townhouse on the east end of SW Roxbury early Thursday morning. The City Attorney’s Office charged 28-year-old Crystal Romo-Rivasof Renton today with DUI, and she’s still at the King County Jail, in lieu of $2,500 bail. The case was spotlighted on SPD Blotter; we’ve also read the police report via the Seattle Municipal Court files. Romo-Rivas went off the road and crashed her 2006 Honda Element – of which she’s the registered owner – in the 200 block of SW Roxbury around 12:15 am Thursday. No one was hurt. But she claimed to officers that she wasn’t driving, that the real driver was a man she’d met at a bar, though she didn’t know his name, nor the name of the bar. Officers say she also gave conflicting responses to other questions about where she’d been and where she was going, and that she was displaying various signs of intoxication, but wouldn’t cooperate with the field sobriety test, so an officer certified as a phlebotomist took a blood draw at the Southwest Precinct after they obtained a warrant to do that. Police say various evidence indicated she had indeed been driving, including a witness who saw her get out of the driver’s seat after the crash, alone. Whenever Romo-Rivas gets out of jail, Judge Andrea Chin ordered an ignition interlock device be installed on any vehicles she might drive, and that she only drive in connection with work.

(WSB photos)

1:38 PM: SPD and KCSO are investigating gunfire at the 30th/Roxbury 76 station. More info to come.

30th is blocked off on the south side of the intersection.

2:11 PM: SPD has turned the scene over to KCSO, whose jurisdiction it’s in. KCSO tells us that their first call was around 12:40 pm for “reckless shooting”; no one was hurt. KCSO says Explorer West Middle School, several blocks away, has lifted its lockdown; we are waiting to hear back from Seattle Public Schools about its multi-program building across the street.

2:42 PM: SPS says the gunfire went into the school building as well – here’s the statement we just received in response to our inquiry:

Students and staff at the SPS Roxhill building (9430 30th Ave SW) went into a lockdown today after shots were fired from a car into the campus. The campus quickly moved to a lockdown. All staff and teachers are safe. The campus was not the intended target of the incident. During a lockdown, classroom and exterior doors are locked. Students remain indoors and in their classroom until the lockdown has been lifted. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) was quick to respond and is currently investigating this incident. No students or staff were harmed, and the lockdown was lifted after SPD indicated it was safe to do so.

The only description we’ve heard so far is “silver/black sedan with loud exhaust.”

3:02 PM: We asked SPS about damage at the school: “There is damage near the cafeteria/the SW Roxbury St & 30th Ave SW side of campus.”

7:19 PM: We’ve obtained more information from SPD. Their report narrative says officers “located over a dozen shell casings on 30th AV SW at the southwest corner of the lot occupied by the 76 gas station.” One of our photos captured markers for those too (and our picture above shows some of the markers by the pumps):

They also “confirmed several round strikes on the gas pumps of the 76 station” and found “damaged glass on classroom windows” at the school building (again, this is the FORMER Roxhill building at 30th/Roxbury, not the current one at 34th/Holden). This report says a witness saw “a white sedan and black sedan flee the area eastbound on SW Roxbury” right after they heard the shots.

7:59 PM: A commenter identifying themselves as an employee says the SPD report is “inaccurate” – that no classroom windows were hit.

SPD released a sheaf of summaries late Sunday, covering the past several days. Here are four incidents we hadn’t previously reported:

NORTH DELRIDGE GUNFIRE: Around 5:30 pm Friday, after callers reported suspected gunfire near 26th/Brandon, police found unspecified “evidence in a nearby park,” and bullet damage to a tree.

SOUTH HIGHLAND PARK GUNFIRE: Around 4:30 am Wednesday, after callers reported suspected gunfire and three people on the run, police found unspecified “evidence” at 16th/Kenyon – though the ground was covered in snow.

GUN ARREST: Police checking out an “illegally parked” car in the 2600 block of Alki Avenue SW at 11:19 pm Thursday found two people insiede and one gun in the console. The vehicle’s occupants did not have a concealed-pistol license for the gun, described as a “Glock 19 loaded with 10 rounds.” One occupant, 19, was booked into jail for unlawfully carrying a pistol (a misdemeanor).

FAILED ROBBERY ATTEMPTS: SPD believes two incidents early Friday are related. At 12:17 am, two people went into the Chevron station/minimart at Admiral/41st; one ran behind the counter, demanded money, then hit the clerk, who police say “squared up” against him, at which time both robbers left. Their car is described as a black or dark gray Hyundai Tucson. Police think the would-be robber who hit that clerk went into the 35th/Avalon 7-11 with a mask, gloves, and gun, but saw the clerk hit the holdup-alarm button, and bolted. Fingerprint evidence was obtained.

ORIGINAL SATURDAY NIGHT REPORT: Police found evidence of gunfire in South Delridge after 911 reports about it around 7:40 pm, according to emergency-radio archives. No injuries reported so far. Police found shell casings near 21st/Barton, and an empty gray Kia Avalon – left running – with bullet damage. Witnesses told them the people responsible for the gunfire left the scene in a car, but no consistent description; dispatch later reported the person who had been driving the Avalon called in to say they’d left it after getting shot at. Barton was blocked off for a while as police looked for other evidence, but it’s reopened now.

ADDED SUNDAY MORNING: The police-report summary we obtained this morning includes the info we reported above, with one additional detail: The person who called in about the car declined to come back for it, saying, according to police, “he was already out of the city and would not return.” The car was impounded.

Two reader reports tonight:

PROWLER/PEEPER RETURNS: A North Admiral resident (California near Palm), reports, “This guy has entered our gated area twice from the alley to California. The first time was 1/15/25 at 6:15 a.m., and the second was today at 6:06 a.m. I wanted to let you know so I can warn others in the area. I have alerted our neighborhood watch group, the building owner where the guy was peeping, and the tenant.” This clip is a closer look as he opens the gate. Police report # is 25-035150.

RECOGNIZE THIS CAR? Possibly stolen, says the reader who’s noticed it for “some days now”:

I live on 44th Ave SW between Oregon and Genesee and noticed an unfamiliar car parked for quite a few days now. Initially, its lights were on and now they are not, probably a dead battery at this point. It seems like maybe someone stole the car and dumped it. Hoping the owner recognizes it and can get their car back.

They’ll be reporting it to police.

1:02 PM: Two items in West Seattle Crime Watch:

BURGLARS STEAL EGGS: The security-camera image is from from a burglary early Wednesday at Luna Park Café. Two people in that van stole boxes of food from a refrigerated shed on the site at 2918 SW Avalon Way. The police-report narrative mentions only “boxes of produce” but café founder John Bennett, who provided the images, says the stolen items included “a couple cases” of eggs, which are priced at a premium these days.The narrative also says that when a café employee showed up after an alert from the security system, the burglars returned, but quickly left. Police say they got the call around 4:40 am. If you have any information on the burglary, the incident number is 25-033137. (Friday morning update: SPD now has more details, which they’ve. posted on their website, including that the burglars “removed boxes containing an estimated 540 eggs, worth about $387, as well as bacon, ground beef, blueberries and liquid egg products … In total, the items in this breakfast heist were worth about a shell-shocking $780.”)

MAIL-THEFT ALERT: Back on Tuesday, we published a short report from a reader whose USPS letter carrier had told them that mail trucks were broken into. Today, another reader sent us this notice they’d received in their mailbox:

The reader who received that notice lives in the 4700 block of 49th SW; the person who heard about it from their carrier is in the 4800 block of Beach Drive. Anyone else get a theft alert?

ADDED 6:05 PM: In addition to what’s in comments, we got this text:

Saw your reporting on WS mail trucks being compromised. My credit card was slated to be delivered and instead was stolen and used fraudulently – 3 times in the middle of the night before it was shut down. Just letting you know in case you want to update your reporting to let readers know the fraud is real.

The photo and report are from Zach:

Stolen between 1 am and 3 am. Please keep an eye out. 44th and Charlestown. 2004 black Yukon Denali.

Call 911 if you find it. We’ll add the police report # when we get it.

In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

MORE MAIL STOLEN: Heads-up sent by Mike this afternoon:

Just an fyi to the readers. We live in the (4800 block of) Beach Dr SW and were just informed by our mail carrier that our mail was stolen yesterday out of the mail truck.

SHOPLIFT-TURNED-ROBBERY: After SPD released a short summary of this Monday afternoon incident, without location information, we obtained the narrative. A 34-year-old man is in jail, under investigation for first-degree robbery after allegedly threatening to kill an employee at PCC West Seattle while stealing three beers and a bag of chips. Store employees told police the confrontation escalated after they tried to stop him from stealing; he pulled out a knife with a six-inch blade. Police. say he dropped the knife when they confronted him outside the store. They recovered the beer, chips, and an allegedly-also-stolen orange. The suspect remains held in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to the jail register.

ORIGINAL SUNDAY REPORT: About the same time police were dispatched to the flipped car on the bridge, they got word of a carjacking and assault. The victim is reported to have been carjacked near Salty’s on Alki (1936 Harbor SW) and assaulted in the process; he went to the Harbor Avenue 7-11 and SFD medics treated him there. The stolen car is described as a 2006 black Porsche Cayenne. No other info so far.

ADDED EARLY TUESDAY: We obtained the police-report narrative. Police say they got “various conflicting accounts about the circumstances” from the man who said he was carjacked. They say he wouldn’t give descriptions, he gave two different locations for where it happened, and though he said he’d been hit on the head, police found no “obvious signs of injuries.” He also didn’t know his license plate number and police couldn’t find anything in the system registered in his name. No witnesses or video either, according to the police report.

Todd at Swedish Automotive (35th/Kenyon; WSB sponsor) reports his shop was broken into early today, and it’s on video:

We had a break-in this morning at the shop around 4 am. Ring camera captured some of it and the alarm went off, but not before they broke the front door, 4 windows in the back, cut the latch off the back gate and made off with our safe. SPD case 2025-29750 if anyone has any information.

That includes if you happen to find a dumped safe.

The video and report were sent by Corey:

We want to share this hit and run last night that completely wrecked my wife’s car, And hoping our West Seattle community can help identify the car in the video. This happened at 2:48 AM on the 8800 block of 18th Ave. SW and SW Trenton. As you can see, the car smashes into the front driver side, backs into the truck behind it, and then takes off.

If someone can help identify the car make or model, that would be very helpful or if you have seen this car in your neighborhood with a smashed front driver side, please let us know. thecoreyis@gmail.com.

Corey says the report #, filed with the State Patrol, is M4014103.

SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Corey emailed to say, “Because of the post, someone identified the car and they live less than a block away. The Tesla was found, parked on the street with the very apparent damage. Contacted the owner and he gave us all of his information. We also saw that he backed into a neighbor’s truck and did damage there as well. Now we can all get our cars fixed and not have to pay our deductible. Thanks to the Blog and thanks to the people who emailed us with the information about the car, And the individual who emailed me about the location.”

Reported to us via text, a stolen trailer to watch for:

STOLEN on 7300 Block of 35th Ave SW.
*2025 Black 5×8 enclosed with drop door ramp and side doors
*WA plate…. A8120132
*Police report # 25-28848
The trailer is brand new, the owner tells us. Call 911 if you find it.

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The report and photos are from Evan at Lady Jaye in The Junction, burglarized just before 5:30 this morning:

A couple of guys broke into Lady Jaye last night at 5:30 am. They broke through the back door, busted into the office and stole staff tips, cash, checkbooks and booze.

Thankfully they didn’t totally trash the place and we will be open tonight with a little cleanup … There seems to be a lot of activity on California Ave these last few days.

Lady Jaye is on the west side of the 4500 block of California SW; on Thursday, we reported on incidents targeting HVAC equipment outside two buildings on the same side of the 4400 block.

UPDATE: Police report # for the Lady Jaye break-in is 25-028731.

Three reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

HVAC SYSTEMS TARGETED: The West Seattle Junction Association is circulating this alert to businesses; we’re republishing it with permission:

… Seattle Fish had their refrigerator/HVAC system vandalized over the weekend. Someone had punctured it to drain the oil and relieve pressure. The would-be thief must have been scared off, as they not did take the system.

Last night, however, these thieves returned and broke into the back area of CenturyLink and stole two units. If your system is exposed, especially at street level, please take warning. There are thieves targeting these systems for scrap metal. We have alerted our security patrols to pay extra attention in the alleys. Please protect your property.

Seattle Fish Company and the CenturyLink facility are both on the west side of the 4400 block of California SW.

ASSAULT/ROBBERY SUSPECT ARRESTED: A 42-year-old man is in jail, accused in a shoplift-turned-robbery at Jefferson Square Safeway late last night. We requested and obtained the report narrative from police. It says police were called after 11 pm and told a man had thrown an employee into a shelf, hit a customer, took items, and left the store. Employees told them it began with the man yelling and causing a disturbance in the store. When confronted, he hit the person who confronted him “three times in his head with a toy guitar” (who the confronter was is not clear because of redactions). Earlier, officers were told, the suspect was seen “stuffing his backpack with stolen food products and merchandise”; he was reported to have become upset and lashed out when seeing an employee “recording him.” Nobody wanted/needed medical attention after all this, but the recordings helped police recognize the suspect from a different call, and they arrested him after spotting him walking near 35th/Avalon a half-hour later. The report says he was wearing the same clothes as during the store incident – and that officers also found the “toy guitar” as well as items stolen from Safeway.

TIRES SLASHED: This is from an anonymous reader:

I live at California and Hinds. I routinely park my car on 42nd. This morning two of my tires were slashed and the hood of my car scratched by a sharp object. As was another vehicle in the same block.

This happened around 11 pm last night 01/29/25. If anyone saw anything or knows of who may have committed this crime please contact the Seattle Police, two incident reports have been made.

I am beyond sickened that someone would do this. Destroying someone’s property with malicious and violent intent is a crime. Doing it in such an aggressive manner shows that it was done premeditated … let people know to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior, and Tesla drivers, no matter what your political leanings are, turn on your Sentry Modes.

We have a followup question out to confirm whether that means their vandalized car is a Tesla and if they know whether the other one was. (UPDATE: Yes, they say, both targeted cars are Teslas.)

Charges have been filed against the two men whose Harbor Avenue arrests – which started with police investigating a parking violation – were reported here Tuesday. First, the suspect charged with a felony: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 27-year-old David Valdovinos, now listed as a Des Moines resident, with first-degree unlawful possession of a gun. According to the charging documents, the gun officers spotted in, and seized from, his 2006 Honda Civic early Saturday was a “Springfield .40mm pistol with a round in the chamber” and had been stolen in a burglary in Tacoma in 2016. These images are from the charging document:

Valdovinos cannot legally possess any gun because he is a convicted felon; the documents say he was convicted of three felonies as a juvenile in 2011 – child rape, unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation, and burglary. He was not charged with possession of a stolen firearm because, the case detective wrote, “There is insufficient evidence to establish the knowledge element by Valdovinos that the firearm was a stolen gun.” He claimed to officers that he had bought it from a friend in Portland for $700. The charging papers say he was also found in possession of a “small baggie of cocaine,” though no drug charge is filed. Meantime, Valdovinos remains jailed in lieu of $25,000 (bail cannot be changed from the initial amount set unless significant new evidence is brought to light).

His passenger early Saturday, 24-year-old Nayel G. Orduno-Araujo of Graham, is charged with two misdemeanors, unlawfully carrying a pistol, and resisting arrest. Case documents filed by the City Attorney’s Office say Orduno-Araujo was concealing a “loaded M&P 9mm” handgun but admitted he did not have a concealed-pistol license. There is no other background on the gun, which police had said in the initial summary also was stolen; he was said to be in possession of 27 grams of fentanyl but no drug charge was filed. The documents say the City Attorney’s Office wanted bail set at $5,000 but a judge set it at $3,000; he too remains in jail.