The WSBeat: Unanswered doorbell; arson followup…

By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

This edition of The WSBeat contains summaries written from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers – generally cases that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block?” Or on the bridge, or the beach, or …

*Around 8:30 a.m. on the 7th, in the 9200 block of 17th SW (map), someone repeatedly rang the doorbell at an apartment. When the resident didn’t answer, a loud “BOOM” shook the building as the would-be visitor tried to kick the door in. Video shows a slim, light-skinned black male wearing a beige hoodie jumping over a gate and into the victim’s side yard. He remains at large.

Four more summaries ahead (it’s been quieter lately) including a followup on an arson case reported here earlier this week:

*Around 2:30 a.m. on the 6th, a 96-year-old woman described as having known mental-health issues stood in the middle of the street near 28th and Dakota (map), yelling that “a policewoman was raped at the shindig!” She also had visions of naked men chasing each other. Neighbors state that her behavior is becoming increasingly erratic. Because she’s more agitated when police arrive, the on-scene officer made sure she got safely inside, left, and had 911 operators try to contact her son. King County Mental Health employees visited her the next day to try to get her into treatment. On the 8th, following another incident, the victim was transported to Harborview for an evaluation.

*A 38-year-old West Seattle man entered a Junction business on the afternoon of the 7th, used the restroom, and then threw items around. (One item was a large water bottle that he slammed into one employee’s groin.) Before leaving he stood outside and threw planter-box dirt back into the establishment. Officers picked him up and booked him into King County Jail for investigation of assault. Items in his pockets included a broken kite handle with string, two toy Frisbee guns, and an empty tobacco tin. The suspect has been involved in other recent disturbances and officers say his behavior is escalating.

*(This is a followup to a story published here last week.) A 14-year-old from Tacoma was booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of arson and residential burglary after a home under construction in the 4700 block of 26th (map) suffered damage early Tuesday morning from a fire determined to have been set. He gave himself up after officers put out the small fire and announced their presence. The young man had been involved in an incident earlier that evening.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Remember, the CRISIS CLINIC hotline is a resource for those in crisis, including thoughts or acts of self-harm, or trying to find help for someone in crisis: 206.461.3222 … Previous WSBeat roundups are archived here. We also publish crime reports when we get tips or otherwise hear about noteworthy incidents – they don’t all turn up on the scanner, so please don’t be shy about letting us know when you see/hear something happening = call or text 206-293-6302.

5 Replies to "The WSBeat: Unanswered doorbell; arson followup..."

  • Community Member March 15, 2014 (6:29 pm)

    And what race was the 38 year old suspect?
    .
    I don’t care really, I just find it depressing that race is described in the first item but not the other two.

  • Danny March 15, 2014 (10:01 pm)

    I would guess the other suspect’s race are human. The first suspect is at large, ergo the physical description that was given.

  • M March 15, 2014 (10:52 pm)

    @ Community Member – perhaps the suspect’s race is described in the 1st item because, unlike the suspects in the other items, he’s still at large.

  • Oakley34BLAM March 15, 2014 (10:53 pm)

    Well in the first case the suspect remains at large. A description of such a person (including but not limited to race…also clothing, height etc) is warranted as neighbors etc may have seen the suspect and have information regarding him (longshot but, yeah). The 38 yr old was taken to custody and is a known entity. Publishing description is less pertinent. In any case I’m sure WSB is just publishing what comes across from police reports, and descriptions of suspects is undoubtedly a part of those reports.

  • Community Member March 16, 2014 (11:00 am)

    That argument would bear more weight if we were being told about this within a day or two of the event, especially if the report included the available picture and additional descriptive details such as height and approximate age.
    .

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