West Seattle Crime Watch update: Police search in Admiral

helicopterwatch.png11:40 PM: Just got a note from Mike about a police search in northeast Admiral – and via the scanner, we’re hearing police asking for the Guardian One helicopter to come help them look. Not sure yet what this is about – nothing involving injury has happened, per the 911 log – but will update, and wanted to forewarn you about the chopper.

11:47 PM UPDATE: Per both scanner and text, the search is currently in the Fairmount Ravine area. There’s a K-9 team, too.

11:58 PM UPDATE: Chopper’s clearing out, per scanner.

12:10 AM UPDATE: We still don’t have official word back from SPD about how this all started but some scanner traffic regarding a stolen car (whose owner is being called for retrieal) may be matching up with what a commenter is seeing in the 39th/Olga area.

FRIDAY 2:16 PM: Finally, the answer: YES, it was the stolen-car search, according to Det. Mark Jamieson with SPD’s media-relations unit. He says this all started when an officer saw someone running out of the white Subaru on SW Olga – she thought that looked suspicious, so she ran the car’s plate and discovered it had been stolen (from the North End a few days ago). She called for “containment” – officers basically swarming the area to try to catch the suspect – and they also called for the Guardian One helicopter, which isn’t always up, but was last night. No luck finding the suspect, but an officer stayed with the vehicle till its owner showed up to claim it – Det. Jamieson points out that when you report a stolen car, you can tell police either that you want to be called to come get it if/when it’s found, or that you are OK with them having it impounded.

47 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch update: Police search in Admiral"

  • S5 May 31, 2012 (11:47 pm)

    It just arrived.

  • Belvidere Resident May 31, 2012 (11:47 pm)

    Third police car driving down Hanford, lights on, no sirens, driving really slow. Or its the same car on his third pass. Helicoptor now overhead. Any idea whats happening?

  • Pat May 31, 2012 (11:48 pm)

    Just came home from Admiral District. Large Police presence near the bridge on Amiral. Chopper just went over my house. Hope it’s nothing like yesterday. Thanks as always for the on top of it reporting.

    • WSB May 31, 2012 (11:51 pm)

      All I can tell you for sure is that no one has been hurt – there are no aid/medic calls. Listening to scanner and the only thing obvious is that they are searching. Hope to have more soon. If anyone is at the epicenter of this on the ground somewhere, please advise. It is recent – we had just been at an Admiral grocery store half an hour ago, with two police officers in line behind us, nothing was up then … TR

  • Tim May 31, 2012 (11:52 pm)

    Police were cruising around Belvidere about an hour ago – slow cruising and shining spotlights near Tibbets Baptist Church.

  • rlv May 31, 2012 (11:52 pm)

    Yes, helicopter here and circling – heard it and knew I could check WSB for what’s up. Thank you!

  • JanS May 31, 2012 (11:52 pm)

    aha…I just wrote you…should have checked here first…yeah, it’s really close…the ravine is just a block or so away…

  • Mr Matt May 31, 2012 (11:53 pm)

    Welp, explains why I heard a chopper spooling up earlier.

  • David May 31, 2012 (11:56 pm)

    So noisy right now.

  • S5 May 31, 2012 (11:56 pm)

    At least two police patrol cars stationed at the top of Fairmount (Fairmount/Forest). Helicopter just left the area however.

  • Diane May 31, 2012 (11:57 pm)

    it just went south over me in Belvidere

  • Melissa May 31, 2012 (11:57 pm)

    Many police at the corner of California and Admiral. Maybe drunk driver?

  • Kay May 31, 2012 (11:58 pm)

    I’m at Circa, cops are arresting a male across the street right now.

    • WSB May 31, 2012 (11:59 pm)

      Kay – they did stop somebody somewhere but per the scanner, it’s not who they were looking for after all. – TR

  • R Ruetz May 31, 2012 (11:58 pm)

    Saw the chopper from where I live at Calif/Seattle…any new updates?

  • IA May 31, 2012 (11:58 pm)

    I am here in Admiral. I was going to go to sleep, but some noise kept me up, maybe a neighbor was moving the dumpster in the alley. Now the helicopter just stopped circling. Maybe they found the person. Wonder what happened!

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (12:00 am)

      The chopper left because visibility into the ravine is difficult. Still searchers in the area, including K-9.

  • acb June 1, 2012 (12:01 am)

    Helicopter seems to have left the n. admiral area now….

  • MikeRussellFoto June 1, 2012 (12:01 am)

    Indeed, no longer hear the chopper. And don’t see any patrols anymore.

  • NotMe June 1, 2012 (12:01 am)

    The chopper is gone now… I hope they caught whatever they were looking for. SPD is sure earning their pay lately.

  • MKL June 1, 2012 (12:02 am)

    Chopper isn’t gone gone. Still hovering- maybe nearer california & admiral because I can hear it from 49th & Stevens.

  • David June 1, 2012 (12:02 am)

    All quiet now. It looked like it wa flying a pattern circle over the ravine fom equivalent of lander up to about Seattle st, then looping.

  • Alexis June 1, 2012 (12:02 am)

    I live a little bit south of West Seattle High School and there were helicopters flying all the way over here as well.

  • admiral_resident June 1, 2012 (12:07 am)

    There appears to be a car, a white subaru wagon, on Olga and 39th, that may be connected to this incident. Police cars are on Olga now, surrounding it.

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (12:09 am)

      AR – there has been some traffic re: a stolen car and waiting for its owner to come claim it. I haven’t heard the make but if that’s the one … police were going to wait so that the car didn’t get re-stolen!

  • Dori Schnelz June 1, 2012 (12:12 am)

    Thanks for keeping us updated, very unsettling to hear helicopters in the area

  • brenda June 1, 2012 (12:13 am)

    Its a stolen Subaru. It overheated. Suspect now on foot.

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (12:17 am)

      Thanks, Brenda. Makes sense since as I noted earlier, there were no medic calls – something that IS logged thoroughly, reliably, and real-time online – in the area, which means it wasn’t anything involving an injury, therefore likely burglary/robbery/car theft.

  • AE June 1, 2012 (12:19 am)

    Is Fairmount Ravine the one that runs down towards Alki from West Seattle High School?
    Walnut-ish area for the top of it, the one with a road down the bottom of it, unlike most of our ravines?
    Not related at all to the Fairmount Park neighborhood?

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (12:22 am)

      AE – yes, exactly. Runs from north of WSHS/Hiawatha area, down underneath the Admiral Way Bridge (the one that spans just west of the viewpoint), and all the way down to right by Salty’s/Seacrest.

  • AE June 1, 2012 (12:24 am)

    We used that for practice when running XCountry! I know exactly the one. Thanks for the clarification. Now I see on Google Maps that the street is called Fairmount. Makes sense.

  • admiral_resident June 1, 2012 (12:31 am)

    Cops look to be gathering evidence, getting ready to tow the car away now.

  • Les June 1, 2012 (12:32 am)

    From Belvidere In the ravine, my dog is staring intently out the window and growling. I don’t see the spotlights anymore, but the dog seems to see something out there. Makes it kind of hard to go to sleep! I’d sure like to know when/if they catch who they’re looking for,

  • ML June 1, 2012 (12:33 am)

    The car on Olga and 39th is currently being towed. A few officers are still overseeing.

  • AR June 1, 2012 (12:48 am)

    Has the suspect been caught? I believe I saw some suspicious activity- I mean sketchy people in the area; should I be making a police report or is the investigation over?

  • Admiral Wendy June 1, 2012 (12:49 am)

    Not to stir pot but…seems like a lot of commotion/upset of neighborhood and wonder if SOP for dept is to close out w. some type of statement that will let us rest….my backyard is this ravine and I am a little unsettled that there may be suspect on foot that did something to warrant call out of so many resources?

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (1:02 am)

      AW – No, it’s not, unfortunately. There is one nighttime lieutenant who is very helpful when on duty, but the schedules are unpredictable – if there’s not a nighttime commander at SWP, the role is filled by someone at some other precinct – and the best I can do is send a message out into the pixels and see if anything comes back. Used to be a lot more helicopter searches, and the only reason this one seems unusual is that there hasn’t been one for a while – Guardian One is used a lot less, budget as much as anything. It is a chopper operated by the King County Sheriff’s Dept. but available to other agencies IF it’s on duty. Just an hour earlier, it was in the White Center area, looking for something we also won’t get the final word on till we can reach a public-information officer in the morning. Based on everything we’ve heard – I’m 99.9 percent sure the stolen car is what this was about. But if you think you hear or see someone suspicious, regardless of whether there’s been a search or not, please do call 911, at any time; police have always said that. There is no further scanner traffic re: this search, by the way; it’s over for now. – TR

  • Jet City June 1, 2012 (1:13 am)

    “There appears to be a car, a white subaru wagon, on Olga and 39th, that may be connected to this incident. Police cars are on Olga now, surrounding it.”

    Looks like the the cops aren’t kidding about the new No Left Turn at Olga & Admiral rule!

  • Alkidoc June 1, 2012 (6:38 am)

    I live in the ravine, house was flanked by two police cars with search lights and heli overead, scary to say the least! It’s a dark creepy place at night with unlimited potential hiding places. Would the police really go to this length for a stolen car?

  • West Seattle Mom June 1, 2012 (7:16 am)

    I thought that stuff only happened east of 35th, south of thistle.

  • Larry June 1, 2012 (8:33 am)

    What? No Left Turn at Olga/Admiral! I am bummed. :(

  • 22Blades June 1, 2012 (10:23 am)

    The last few days in Seattle is like a bad movie. A law enforcement helo over your house is not the kinda thing you can sleep peacefully with. East LA or Tamiami, FL. But Seattle? Everybody’s a bit on the edge (for good reason). I want to dial in the time-machine back to 1973 sometimes. We need to take care of each other better…

  • WSratsinacage June 1, 2012 (10:43 am)

    According to KIRO, West Seattle is a quiet neighborhood. :D

  • george June 1, 2012 (10:54 am)

    WSRinC, you apparently have never lived in a high crime neighborhood. Why don’t we go easy on “soft crime”? Maybe the car owner can jump in…

  • LivesInWS June 1, 2012 (1:06 pm)

    What! There’s a light for the L turn at Olga for W-bound Admiral. At least there was 1 day ago….

    • WSB June 1, 2012 (1:10 pm)

      LivesIn – there has been a discussion in the WSB Forums about somebody getting ticketed trying to turn there. I haven’t been able to research with SDOT, but I encourage anybody concerned to call them (206-684-ROAD) to see if that was truly restriped with a change but no signage …
      .
      Meantime, to anybody else checking back here, SPD has not yet been able to verify for us what the search last night was about. I am still trying. Hope to eventually have something to add to the story, at least to close the loop of wondering … TR

  • S5 June 1, 2012 (4:34 pm)

    WSB – thank you for the follow-up with SPD and the update.

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