West Seattle, Washington
27 Wednesday
3:51 PM: Thanks to the readers who messaged us about this publicly posted security-video clip showing a man trying a door with one hand, sizable knife in the other. Following up, we’ve matched it to an arrest made on Beach Drive early Saturday. The police report says:
I responded to a 911 call for an attempted burglary at 4xxx Beach Drive SW. The Victims … observed via a ring camera, an unknown male suspect, wearing a green jacket with a hood, with light pants, short brown hair and holding a large silver kitchen style knife in his hand. On the camera, the suspect … is seen walking up to the residence, looking into the window at the front door, then trying to open the door. After realizing the door was locked, (he) then walks away on foot in an unknown direction. The residents/victims said they did not recognize (him) and reported no one should have been coming over to their house at that time. Officers contacted (him) several blocks south of the original location. (him) was observed walking down and into another property. Officers found (him) inside of another private building located at 6xxx Beach Drive SW. (He) matched the description and had the knife in his possession. He was taken into custody. … (The suspect) had in his possession, black gloves and a black flashlight.
The 39-year-old suspect is still in the King County Jail. We’re checking with prosecutors to see if he had a bail hearing this afternoon.
7:17 PM: His bail was set at $10,000. No record, so far as we can find.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The suspect, Gabriel C. Putnam, is now charged with attempted burglary. Separate update to come.
10:11 PM: Guardian One has been helping with a police search just north of The Triangle. One person is reported to be in custody but we don’t yet know what led to the search.
10:40 PM: Still trying to find officer(s) on the ground to ask. We’ve found police cars but no officers in sight.
10:45 PM: Talked to an officer. He said this was called in as an attempted burglary. (When we first heard radio exchanges, police were pursuing a suspect through yards, then took someone into custody.)
From Jennifer:
Just wanted to reach out regarding a sign that was stolen off my parents’ house just this last week. Its a large, handmade Seattle Mariners S that my dad made over 25 years ago. Was hanging from front of house next to the front door and was swiped. Our family is heartbroken and we would love to see it returned with no consequence.
No photo but if you’ve seen a large Mariners “S” suddenly appear somewhere … could be it. This has been reported to police, (update) incident number 2019-907323.
THURSDAY: The photo and report are from Joey:
My fiancée’s truck was stolen from Westwood Village while she was shopping inside at Rite Aid today at about 5 pm. We reported it to the police. We found the tailgate dumped onto the side of the road a couple blocks away. They most likely took the tailgate off because of all her bumper stickers.
The truck is a 1991 Nissan D21 regular cab. The color is black with a thin red decal strip on the side. Chrome bumpers. Again, it has no tailgate on it currently. Call 911 if seen.
ADDED SUNDAY: It was found in Lake City.
Seattle Police posted those photos along with this SPD Blotter report about a West Seattle incident:
Officers arrested a man and seized multiple firearms and bladed weapons after he threatened his roommate with a samurai sword.
Officers were called to the 5400 block of 18 Avenue SW. When the arrived they spoke with the 61 year-old victim who stated his 62-year-old roommate began swinging a sword at him over a rent dispute.
Police took the suspect into custody without incident. Officers then worked with a judge to obtain a warrant for the residence and recovered seven firearms, three swords, two fixed blade knives, and a bayonet.
Officers booked the suspect into King County Jail for investigation of Domestic Violence threats.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence and would like help, the city has many resources to assist you.
The report doesn’t mention when this happened but Tweets by Beat lists an incident in that area on Sunday.
The video and report are from Michael in east Arbor Heights:
This cool guy stole my shoes from front porch midnight June 10th. Joke’s on him because they were stinky as heck after golfing in the morning and going in the trash anyway. Just thought it provides a good look for someone who’s obviously casing the neighborhood and stealing things off people’s front porch.
P.S. One more reminder that Arbor Heights (and Westwood/Roxhill-area) residents are invited to a focus group tonight to discuss crime/safety/policing issues – here’s the info.
If your neighborhood is among those with a “micro-community policing plan” (explained here), it’s time for an update, so focus groups are being held around the Southwest Precinct area. We just got the list from the precinct’s Seattle University intern who is organizing the groups, Taylor Lowery; two have already happened but if you’re in either of those neighborhoods and didn’t participate because you didn’t hear about it, let her know – taylor.lowery@seattle.gov. As in the past, these are groups held without SPD presence, but the feedback ultimately goes to them to update the plans.
Seattle Police included that photo with this report today about a weekend weapons arrest in The Junction:
Police arrested a man after he displayed a sawed-off shotgun behind an Alaska Junction business late Friday night.
Officers were dispatched to the 4700 block of California Avenue SW at 11 PM Friday for a report of a man with a gun.
Officers spoke with the manager of a business who said he exited out the rear of his business and spotted the 48-year-old suspect speaking incoherently about people shooting at him. At one point the suspect mentioned that he had a sandwich, reached into his bag and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun. The manager told the suspect to leave, which he did, then called 911.
Police officers began searching the area and found the suspect a block away. They searched the man and recovered the loaded shotgun. Officers arrested and booked the suspect into King County Jail for unlawful use of a weapon.
We checked the King County Jail Register; the suspect was booked early Saturday and is still there.
For at least the second time in a week, someone has broken a window at a West Seattle Junction business by throwing something through it in the early morning hours. Above, the aftermath on the SW Alaska side of KeyBank. Below, a photo from Aaron, taken shortly after it happened in the 3 am hour:
The branch manager told us nothing was taken, and police confirm that there “is no indication that anyone entered,” adding, “It appears that a piece of metal was thrown through the window … The metal piece was collected for evidence.” Four days ago, as reported here, the John L. Scott Real Estate office about a block and a half north was damaged by an early-morning rock thrower.
From the “dumped and likely stolen” file – Mark found that bicycle abandoned in an alley off SW Henderson. He plans to turn it in but in the meantime sent us a photo in case the owner is a reader. Yours? Contact us and we’ll connect you.
(Photo of similar Celica added. Courtesy Toyota)
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Susan:
Our car was stolen tonight 6/6/19 between 4:30 and 7:30 from our driveway on 21st Ave SW.
It is a red 1986 Toyota Celica hatchback with collector plate 81703CV.
Call 911 if you see it.
Two cases of vandalism in West Seattle Crime Watch:
ROCK THROWN INTO BUSINESS: The photos above and below are from Tyler McKenzie at John L. Scott Real Estate in The Junction:
Sometime last night a rock was thrown through our front door double paned, tempered glass window with such force the rock actually traversed the entire length of the building before landing under a desk by the back door.
Unfortunately, our cameras didn’t reveal the bad actor/s.
A police report has been filed; the preliminary number from the online system is T19001702.
CARS VANDALIZED: The report and photo are from Lexi:
This is the second time in two months someone has keyed my car in my neighborhood.
My roommate has also been impacted. The events keep occurring late at night, and there’s no evidence of who is doing it. I’m curious if other neighbors have been impacted, or are seeing an increase in damaged vehicles parked on city streets. I live off 61st Ave SW in the Alki neighborhood.
Just in via SPD Blotter:
Being a teen is hard, especially when you’re in a stolen car and you’re trying to get away from the cops on a busy Saturday night down by the beach.
Around 9:30 PM Saturday, officers working an emphasis patrol near Alki Beach spotted a stolen car drive past them in the 2500 block of Alki Avenue SW.
They followed the car — reportedly stolen in Kent – at a slow speed through traffic and turned on their red and blue lights to pull the driver over. However, the driver appeared to ignore them and began weaving through incoming traffic at high speed.
The suspect eventually turned south onto 55th Avenue SW and entered a dead-end street.
Officers blocked in the suspect’s car and arrested the 17-year-old driver. Police booked him into the King County Youth Service Center for possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to elude police, and a robbery warrant.
12:09 AM: Police and fire are headed to what was dispatched as a flipped-car crash in the 3700 block of SW Thistle. Updates to come.
12:29 AM: No serious injuries; the driver was out even before SFD arrived, and they’d already departed before we arrived at the scene. The car is blocking SW Thistle just west of 37th SW. Photo added.
10:51 AM: The log notation this morning shows this incident is under investigation as DUI.
A reader report, from the dumped-and-likely-stolen file:
My neighbor watched a woman ride this bike onto our street, then leave it, approximately (three) days ago. We have moved the bike to a safe storage place and hope to return it to its owner.
We’d like to make sure it does not go to some random person claiming to own the bike so are hoping the owner will have the key to the U lock which is on the bike (but was not used to lock up the bike).
I can be reached via email, l_c_turner@hotmail.com.
If we don’t hear from anyone by the middle of next week, we’ll turn the bike in to the police.
Received via text: “Our house was broken into today in West Seattle on 12th and Holden. They took laptops, a Nintendo switch, multiple Kindles, and iPods and an iPad while I slept. They stole our red 2006 four-door Toyota Camry.” We’ll add the police-report # when we get it.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports:
DRIVER ARRESTED: We briefly mentioned a crash that shut down a block of Delridge late Wednesday/early Thursday. SPD sent out Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives and we’ve finally found out why. Police tell us a driver hit an 18-year-old woman who was crossing Delridge at/near 21st. The 35-year-old man who hit her was arrested on suspicion of “impairment” and is in the King County Jail for investigation of vehicular assault. SFD tells us the victim was in “stable condition” when taken to the hospital.
STOLEN BED: This may have been an honest mistake but somebody stole Tina’s bed frame from outside her home in west Admiral (near 47th/Admiral) and it was NOT left outside as a freebie. How it wound up outside is a long story but Tina’s husband made the frame 20 years ago and it has sentimental value. She’s looking for a photo so we can add, but in the meantime, if you happened to pick it up or know of somebody who is excited they found a free bed frame … please return it.
SHOPKEEPER’S WARNING: Alair proprietor Shandon Graybeal wants to warn other store owners about a group of teenagers who harassed her late in the day Thursday and tampered with her security camera – which was, ironically enough, recorded on video:
She says two of the teenagers cornered her so she couldn’t move while another looked in the back room and cased the register, in addition to tampering with the camera. She says they were scared off when a customer emerged from an out-of-sight corner of the store. A police report has been filed – # 19-195886.
A miniature steam-powered train locomotive from a Whatcom County amusement park, stolen in West Seattle, hasn’t been found yet. After readers pointed out TV reports about it, we tracked down the surveillance video and police report and contacted the locomotive’s owner at Miniature World Family Fun Center in Birch Bay:
(Photo via Miniature World Facebook page)
The half-ton locomotive was in a Morgan Junction garage, brought here because its boiler needed repairs, to be provided by a local expert. Then came the break-in early Saturday, recorded by security cameras, this one in the garage:
And this view from the alley outside:
The second stolen item is a generator; the cart was left behind. If you have any information, the SPD incident # is 2019-189418.
It’s gardening season. And … gardening-related-theft season. Two reader reports:
STOLEN SOIL: Sue e-mailed to report, “Someone stole 2 large, Costco bags of soil from the alley behind us. They were right next to our garage. If you have them, please bring them back. If someone shows up near you with them, please let me know.” This was in the west Admiral area. Blue bags with the Costco logo.
PILFERED PLANT (AND MORE): John sent these clips recorded last week in the 7700 block of Delridge Way SW. First – a pot of flowers:
Then, something bigger:
Got something for Crime Watch? Email westseattleblog@gmail.com. Breaking news: text or call 206-293-6302
6:54 PM: Here’s what brought all those police to the vacant-and-slated-for-redevelopment apartment site in the 2200 block of SW Barton, just southeast of Westwood Village. Police tell us at the scene that a stolen car was ditched outside the building and suspects were seen going into the building, so, with a bullhorn and K-9 team, they’ve been trying to get the suspects to come out.
7:04 PM: Our crew has since left but we’re hearing by radio that police have gone in and aren’t finding anyone, so far.
7:13 PM: Avoid Delridge near Oregon for a while – a police response involving a Metro bus has much of the road blocked. We are still working to find out what started this.
7:25 PM: Our crew couldn’t get close to police at the scene so went to the precinct to ask. There, police told us there was a report someone had a gun on the bus. No gun found so far.
Two reader reports of dumped-and-likely-stolen two-wheelers:
MOTORCYCLE: The photo and report are from the anonymous finder:
Recognize this motorcycle? Honda CRF-230F – This motorcycle was dumped in the Puget Ridge neighborhood around May 2nd. Presumably a stolen motorcycle since an attempt was made to camouflage it in the woods. Seems to be in good shape. Love to get it back to its owner.
It’s been reported to police. If it’s yours, we’ll connect you with the finder.
BICYCLE: This has been visible in the Lowman Beach vicinity for at least two days:
Contact us and we can connect you regarding that one too.
(WSB photo, 24th/Kenyon gunfire aftermath last Friday)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Last Friday’s 24th/Kenyon gunfire was a major community concern discussed at the May meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, which regularly provides a chance to tell local police leadership what’s on your mind.
We also asked what had transpired since news at last month’s WSCPC meeting that the precinct planned to deploy the SPD observation tower in this area.
Present from the precinct – where the WSCPC met last night, as usual – were commander Capt. Pierre Davis and city attorney’s office liaison Joe Everett. A featured guest from Seattle Fire spoke later in the meeting.
First:
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