West Seattle Crime Watch: Delridge robbery; latest reader reports

Before we get to the Crime Watch reader reports, we have finally been able to get details on a Friday-afternoon incident some have asked about, a street robbery in Delridge. Det. Renée Witt in Seattle Police media relations says, according to the report, the victim was washing a car in the 2600 block of Brandon when a 4-door silver Buick drove by, parked, then left – and came back. When the car returned, it pulled up near the victim, stopped in the middle of the street, and two passengers got out of the back and walked up to the victim. One (described only as a black man in his late teens/mid-20s, about 6 feet tall and medium build) showed a silver handgun and said, “Empty your pockets.” The victim complied; the robber got back in the car, which left southbound on 26th. According to Det. Witt, the victim reported being so focused on the man with the gun that he couldn’t describe what the others looked like or were doing.

Meantime, as is unfortunately somewhat frequent, there were scattered “sounds like gunshots” reports over the weekend, but – in case you wondered about one near you – none has resulted in a finalized police report of actual gunfire – which only means no one was shot, no casings found, no property damage. (EARLY WEDNESDAY UPDATE: One incident has now turned up on the police-report list, but didn’t show until late in the day Tuesday – listing a “weapons-discharge” call in the 8600 block of 14th SW around 3 am. No details in the report, but now that there is a report #, we can check with police later today.)

Now, to the reader reports – scooter theft (stolen from kids who had bought them with their birthday money!) and indecent exposure – times two:

Beth first posted about the scooter theft in the WSB Forums. We invited her to e-mail us so we could repost in Crime Watch:

Two red Razor scooters and bike helmets (one black and one blue) were stolen from Ercolini Park around noon (Monday). One scooter had the name Malachi on the bottom.

Two kids were seen leaving the park on the scooters.

If you find these scooters please e-mail stolenscooter11@yahoo.com.

Please, the scooters belong to a 4 and a 5 year old, both of whom used birthday money to buy the scooters themselves. The boys are extremely upset.

Next, the indecent-exposure report, which Al says has resulted in an arrest:

Two identical incidents occurred two days in a row on the same block involving the same two individuals, another ‘gentleman’ and myself.

Saturday evening about 6:45 I was walking west on Admiral from 46th to 48th to visit a friend as I do almost every night. While on the north side of the street I happened upon said gentleman who was sitting on the steps leading up to a home (one that I know is not where he lives) drinking a beer and pleasuring himself with everything in plain sight.

In a very stern and commanding voice I told him to pull up his shorts and get the hell out of here, actions like that will not be tolerated in our neighborhood or anywhere else. In his very inebriated state he stood up and tried to physically refuse my command and stop me from continuing my insistence of his immediate departure.

A very brief interaction ended with him pulling himself out of the bushes, grabbing his sack of beers and the open one and heading north on 47th while I reported the incident to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. I was not asked to wait around for officers nor did I care to follow him up into the heavily-vegetated side-yard of a home on 47th.

Speaking with the neighbors who live across the street from that house they (who saw the man) confirmed that he indeed does not live there or anywhere around that they know of. I continued on to my friends home for the evening.

(Sunday) around 11:00 I saw him again walking east on Admiral from 47th towards 46th (again north side) repeating his rude behavior with total disregard to who might be seeing him and his man-parts, of course I called 9-1-1 again and was awarded with two units within 3 minutes while still on the phone with the operator.

After a few minutes I walked across Admiral and verbally let that sick S.O.B. know that it was again me who called the authorities and that he and his disgusting habit still are not welcomed in our neighborhood. After a few minutes more the officers had cuffed and secured him in the back of one of their cars, and the poor officer who, with rubber gloves on, was physically disgusted with having to touch him.

My wife and I have lived in this immediate neighborhood for the past 6 years and I am very active outside and almost daily making the trek for 46th to 48th and back via Admiral and Waite, and am very certain that I have not seen him around before. …

I have spoken with most of my neighbors and let them know who to be on the look-out for, and will get to the last few in the next few days as they return from vacation.

In case anyone else has encountered this man, we asked Al for a description: Age 50s or 60s, olive complexion, 5’5″, 150-170 pounds, round head, clean-shaven face, closely cropped black hair, black wire-rimmed glasses.

Other recent West Seattle Crime Watch reports are linked from our WSCW page.

13 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Delridge robbery; latest reader reports"

  • dsa September 4, 2012 (11:30 am)

    That daylight armed robbery incident is shocking.

  • Jamie September 4, 2012 (11:43 am)

    This time I’m SURE that what we heard last night near 14th and Trenton wasn’t fireworks. My husband (who is in the military and works on a team similar to SWAT) hit the deck when the shots woke us up around 3:45.

  • Lisa September 4, 2012 (12:56 pm)

    It was not fireworks, it was gunfire right in front of my house! The police found 5 shell casings on the ground. I hope I am never awakened like that again!

    • WSB September 4, 2012 (1:16 pm)

      Lisa – can you e-mail me your address (which I will not disclose publicly nor share with anyone) – editor@westseattleblog.com ? I would like to research why there is no report listed for this though you say police found shell casings. May just be that it’s stuck in the system but it means we can’t report on a timely and accurate basis. But I would need an intersection or block number/street and time to be able to say “hey, can you check again …” Thanks! – TR

  • DelridgeDad September 4, 2012 (1:17 pm)

    Hey Lisa, where abouts do you live? My wife and I heard what sounded like gunshots a couple nights ago in and called the cops. They said it was only fireworks.

  • dc September 4, 2012 (1:17 pm)

    I heard that too (from our home on 26th and Thistle), about 4 or 5 shots in a row, like someone was doing a drive by or spray-n-pray. Haven’t seen any news on it yet though.

  • BB September 4, 2012 (2:06 pm)

    I heard it last night as well and live near 31st & Holden.

  • Highland Park Paula September 4, 2012 (2:13 pm)

    I heard seven rapid-fire gunshots a little after 4:00 a.m. this morning, September 4. Sounded like it was coming from 16th Ave. SW & Thistle. Could have just as easily been 14th Ave. SW & Trenton. Called 911 and was told several other people had already called it in. No screaming or squealing tires, just the seven shots. Would love to know what really happened.

  • Alki Resident September 4, 2012 (2:23 pm)

    @Al, is there any way we can find out more about this freak of nature? If he is local or what he looks like?

    • WSB September 4, 2012 (2:40 pm)

      The end of the story is a rather detailed description. I asked Al for that. He did not get a name from police (which is probably SOP) and I don’t have a name yet, so I am not able to check on his status. – TR

  • Neighbor September 4, 2012 (7:06 pm)

    Go Al! I love you for tellin’ him to put his man parts back in his pants!
    I wonder if this is the same guy who was arrested last month @ Belvidere? Were his hands super clean? That guy was loaded on hand sanitizer of all things.

  • WTF September 4, 2012 (9:03 pm)

    Can these PsOS just back to where ever they came from, instead of coming into our neighborhoods and risking our innocent, law abiding lives? I continue my consistent rant, which will go nowhere, that the police need to be visible in our neighborhoods. All it takes is them consistently driving up one street and down the other…just like the vermin who case our homes!

    • WSB September 4, 2012 (10:23 pm)

      Update – The police-report list has FINALLY updated tonight and shows the “weapons discharge” incident early this morning, 8600 block of 14th SW. Usually incidents post about six hours later. In this case, it was more than 15 hours. But at least there’s a report # I can use to inquire with SPD media relations tomorrow. (Report details are not added online for at least three or four days. The narrative for the 26th/Brandon armed robbery from Friday is there tonight but was not there when I talked with SPD this morning.) – TR

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