West Seattle Crime Watch: More burglary suspects nabbed

Besides the missing 14-year-old being found safe and sound (see below), this is the other big news we found out about while at the Southwest Precinct this afternoon: handcuffs_2.jpgThree suspects are under arrest for investigation of charges including burglary after a wild scene that began with a break-in in the 4500 block of SW Austin (map) – not too far from the general Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy area that’s been the scene of quite a few daytime burglaries in the past week-plus. Even before seeing the report, we heard about this when 2 of the burglary victims came to the precinct while we were there, to pick up some of the recovered loot. Stand by – we’ll add full details here as soon as we write them up. 6:07 PM UPDATE: That update’s going to take a bit longer than we hoped because we just got even more info from police – bottom line is that there have been three general “patterns” of burglaries in West Seattle lately and police believe they’ve made significant progress in two of them, with some key leads in the third. ADDED 6:50 PM: OK, here are full details and the “big picture”:

First, the backstory – as you know if you follow our West Seattle Crime Watch reports, we’ve been besieged with burglaries more than usual lately. One area that we know was fairly quiet until a burst of break-ins within the past week-plus is Upper Fauntleroy/Gatewood – sticks in our mind because it’s where we live. That’s where today’s action began, with an alert neighbor – most of this information is from the official report, with some supplementary details from Detective Nick Bauer:

The neighbor in the 4500 block of SW Austin heard a window break and saw someone going into a house where she knew no one was home; witnesses also saw an unfamiliar white SUV. The vehicle and suspects took off before police arrived; they got a description out over the police radio, while two officers checked the burglarized residence, where the report says they saw:

… the glass window broken out. As we entered the house we observed the garage doors wide open and a flat screen television face down near the house door. In the driveway we found a cell phone and shopping bag filled with IDs, electronic devices and jewelry boxes. Inside the downstairs living area we observed numerous electronic devices with wires pulled out, and throughout the bedrooms drawers pulled out and emptied, and closet doors opened and pilfered through.

While they continued their work, and other officers looked for the white SUV, yet another call came in to 911 from a different neighbor saying “two Asian males” had come to her door earlier in the morning, and when she answered, said they had the wrong house.

Shortly afterward, the police radio crackled with word that the vehicle – a white Lincoln Navigator – might have been spotted at 35th and Avalon. The driver wouldn’t pull over and police followed until the vehicle finally crashed at 13th/Henderson. Three people got out and ran, but didn’t get far. In their car, police found meth, as well as “a burglary tool kit containing misc. screwdrivers, punch, mini mag lite, red pen, and an allen wrench.” They also found a laptop and watch — these are the items the victims came to the Southwest Precinct to recover while we were there this afternoon.

The three suspects are all Asian-American males, 21 years old (he spent 2 weeks in jail last year), 23 years old, and 17 years old (criminal record going back to 12/2004); none live in West Seattle. Too soon to tell for sure, but Detective Bauer says there’s a good chance they might be linked to some of the other burglaries in the Gatewood/Fauntleroy area. All three face charges of burglary, drug possession, and eluding.

Now, the other burglary-related news — First, police are investigating the possibility that some of the Alki/Admiral-area burglaries where the stolen items included loose change might be linked to a teenage boy facing charges for allegedly stealing the tip jar at Puerto Vallarta restaurant in The Junction. This crime was caught on cell-phone camera, according to detectives, and Officer Patrick Chang (whose work cracked the Admiral rock case, as reported here) identified the suspect from that photography.

Second — and listen up, because your help is especially needed with this one — police think they may know who they’re looking for in a separate group of North Admiral burglaries. They got a call about an African-American man who appeared to be casing houses in the 37th/Stevens area; someone called police and they stopped a suspect, who has a burglary record, but had nothing to hold him on. Then police heard from someone else in the area who’d seen a suspicious white van with a blue stripe, Hispanic man inside — and they say that man is a known associate of the alleged house-caser — so they’re looking into whether the two may be working together again. They didn’t get a report about the van till a few days after the sighting, though, so their message is: If you see something/someone suspicious, CALL NOW.

Meantime, we have a separate stack of reports from the precinct that we’ll write up later – wanted to get the burglary-related news out first; hopefully some relief, but don’t let down your guard. You may see something about today’s arrests in citywide media reports, as the lengthy report was being faxed to the Seattle Police Media Relations team just as we were leaving the precinct. (10:12 PM NOTE: In fact, it was the KING-on-KONG lead story at 10 pm.)

21 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: More burglary suspects nabbed"

  • beachdrivegirl March 17, 2008 (5:58 pm)

    Great to hear.. .

  • Gatewood Resident March 17, 2008 (6:19 pm)

    HOORAY!!! I’m still getting my extra cans of pepper spray, however.

  • Trissa March 17, 2008 (7:38 pm)

    When I came home earlier this afternoon, I saw two men next to an older, red volvo sedan. It looked like they were trying to fix the car. As I drove up the street I saw another man walking down the middle of the street. He then went up to two different houses, looked around and it seemed like he checked the doors. He then got into the car with the other two men and they drove away. I called the cops and alerted them to the suspicious activity and described the men. If they weren’t casing the houses, they sure looked suspicious. Hopefully all this attention will get them caught and prevent others from being burglarized!

  • Jeannie March 17, 2008 (7:43 pm)

    Thank you to our police officers and the WSB. It always burns me up to see idiots who have done prison time out on the street again, committing more crimes. I don’t want to open up a huge discussion about recidivism, but I just hope they get the punishment they deserve.

  • Gatewood Resident March 17, 2008 (7:44 pm)

    Trissa:
    Which neighborhood are you talking about!! Please tell!

  • Trissa March 17, 2008 (8:14 pm)

    Pigeon Point!

  • rockergirl March 17, 2008 (8:39 pm)

    Seems as if they are all over the area – various groups obviously – keep an eye out and thanks for all who are home during the day for there vigilant watch and help in catching a few of the suspects.

  • changingtimes March 17, 2008 (9:32 pm)

    up by the churchs today there was a woman standing outside of our house as i drove up just talking on her cell phone looking at my house, who does that?? she gave me a creepy feeling even though she didnt look particularly threatening but why would someone stand staring at your house on there phone?? anyways i drove up she realized it was my place and took off down the street.

  • Gina March 17, 2008 (11:06 pm)

    I just watched the news report on the burglaries and the reporter stressed that these were “bold” daytime robberies. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t most residential robberies take place during the day when the thieves assume the homeowners will be at work?

  • WSB March 18, 2008 (7:13 am)

    Good question. Will ask that next time I have the chance. As for the verbiage, it’s a small thing but in my news-management career I always insisted reporters use “brazen” – it’s more of a negative word than “bold” which always to me implied there was something admirable about whatever it applied to.

  • Wes March 18, 2008 (7:18 am)

    I have noticed a burgundy volvo station wagon, 1980’s version, parked in different locations around Madision Middle School. There is a guy who looks like he lives in it. Just an FYI. He is about 6 foot, white male maybe in his early 40’s.

  • Gina March 18, 2008 (8:18 am)

    I suppose that most burglaries are not sedate and calm affairs.

    Having been home sick for a week, I have been able to watch the daily activity outside. Lots of people pulling over to talk on cellphones (its the law), yellowbook deliveries, near miss collisions on the corner on 45th by Lafayette.

    Lots of construction activity in the alley, no-one suspicious on the sidewalks that I have seen.

    The report from South Admiral/Lafayette area.

  • WSB March 18, 2008 (8:29 am)

    Funny thing is, even if you’re home all the time you might not notice the suspiciousness … we are right in the thick of the latest wave (one break-in just a block away) and there is almost always someone home but I can’t remember seeing anyone unusual in the neighborhood lately (except the leafleting Jehovah’s Witnesses last weekend) … P.S. Gina, hope you feel better soon.

  • Bayou March 18, 2008 (8:52 am)

    I second the gratitude to our local police officers and specifically to King County Sheriffs Dept. I had a disturbing lunch hour yesterday and they promptly sent an officer to check out the suspicious activity. There is a homeless man who I’ve seen repeatedly in the Highland Park/White Center area lately and my truck got broken into right about the time that he showed up. Yesterday, I watched from an upper window as he was casing my house from the back fence. Once, I thought he was going to come over the fence but he crouched back down under the brush, still checking it out- I assumed to see if anyone was at home. I was scared to go back to work with him watching so I called it in and an officer came and moved him along. I can’t help but put hope in that old saying, “an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure”.

  • charles walling March 18, 2008 (9:09 am)

    better be alert when the irs checks come in may. the crooks will be following the mail trucks in order to get the checks. there isn,t any way that they will not be going through mail boxes, the amount of the checks is to great.

  • Ella March 18, 2008 (9:23 am)

    I saw the white SUV being chased at high speeds by 4 police cars yesterday morning, heading east on Holden Street. Glad to hear those miscreants were caught! Stay sharp.

  • snowlion March 18, 2008 (9:42 am)

    Wow. This is beyond good news; but there have to be more of them – the guy that came to my house was not Asian. Good to hear about the car descriptions as well – we have several white SUVs in our neighborhood, but will keep an eye out for the van now…

  • Highlandparkneighbor March 18, 2008 (1:57 pm)

    I was an eyewitness to the police pursuit of the 3 young males that fled the white Lincoln Navigator after it crashed into a power pole at 13th SW and Henderson yesterday. Seattle officers had one of the SUV occupants apprehended on the sidewalk within 60 seconds of the crash and found and cuffed the other two in adjacent backyards in a matter of minutes. The impact of the car created an explosion that could be heard blocks away. The power pole was still standing but leaning and the pole was literally splintered into more that 6 sections from the impact. The SUV was thrown several yards up on an embankment.
    The damage and position of the car indicate that the suspects must have been traveling at an astonishing speed considering this was a residential neighborhood. I would like to commend the police officers for their quick and effective efforts to catch these guys. I cannot imagine the adrenaline levels that must ensue after a long high-speed chase and commend them for remaining calm and professional at all times.
    I am grateful that the pole was all that was destroyed and not innocent folks who accidentally got in the way.
    Kudos also to the City who had a new power pole out and in place by the end of day ready for line transfer.

  • callie March 18, 2008 (3:30 pm)

    Last Saturday evening, at about 7:30 PM, I had a Asian male ring my doorbell and when I answered the door, he said he had been sent to my home looking for work (acted very nervous) I thought maybe he was looking for my neighbor and I told him to go next door. About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang again, this time a different Asian male, my husband answered and he said the same thing. We then called our neighbor to ask what was going on and he had no idea what the two were referring to. I imagine these are the same males that were caught. Glad to hear they were caught, although it is very scary to think what they were doing and that we had actually cancelled our plans last minute and stayed home.

  • meg March 18, 2008 (8:17 pm)

    Wes, I have two different men in vans that I believe to be homeless. They sleep on our street at least 3-4 nights a week and have actually made me change my morning walk/run b/c they make me feel uncomfortable. I have learned to accept them b/c i know that homelessness is a problem in Seattle but i am glad to know it makes other people uncomfortable too. Also, great job to observant neighbors and our local law officials. It is great to know that everyone is keeping their eyes and ears open!!

  • grr March 19, 2008 (9:42 pm)

    It’s a sad state of affairs, but, in our house, unless you’re EXPECTING someone (or something, like UPS/FedEX, etc), we simply do NOT answer the doorbell.

    and now, as the weather turns, people are more tempted to leave windows open, etc. Best advice I can give is to simply be diligent, only open windows/doors when you’re home that are NOT visible from the street, and yes…we keep a loaded gun safely stashed, but easy to get to by us since we know where it is. (NO, there are no children in our home).

Sorry, comment time is over.