UPDATE: Police arrest 2 after in-progress burglary west of Junction

(WSB photo by Katie Meyer, police response north of burglary scene)
4:12 PM: Busy afternoon for police, again. And also for the tipsters who are quick to let us know when they see police cars going by with lights on – thank you. Here’s the latest: Police have taken two people into custody after an in-progress burglary was reported near 47th and Alaska, west of The Junction.

That’s all the details we have after talking to a sergeant at the scene; if we find out anything more, we’ll add it.

ADDED 4:54 PM: A reader texted the photo of the suspects being arrested outside the a nearby house. (Added: WSB photo of one suspect being walked to police vehicle:)

Scanner traffic indicated some stolen property was recovered.

ADDED 5:17 PM: And here are even more details, just published on SPD Blotter:

A woman called 911 around 3:30 P.M. when she heard the sounds of someone breaking into her home in the 4500 block of 47th Ave Southwest. The woman hid in an upstairs closet as officers arrived on scene.

Officers began searching the neighborhood and found both suspects hiding inside a shed about a block away. Police arrested both suspects and found they were carrying a backpack full of stolen property. Officers will book both 20-year-old suspects into King County Jail on investigation of burglary.

43 Replies to "UPDATE: Police arrest 2 after in-progress burglary west of Junction"

  • LAintheJunction January 23, 2015 (4:43 pm)

    I see the story was posted about a half an hour ago, but when did this all go down? I ask because the photo in the above story is actually taken from 46th and Oregon, which I know because I LIVE RIGHT THERE and can see that intersection from my window. And I’ve been working at home all day today and didn’t hear a thing – which is really odd because sirens travel really well in this neighborhood. Creepy….

    • WSB January 23, 2015 (4:55 pm)

      Sorry, LA, that was part of the containment, then. Katie sent it before we were even fully aware here at HQ of what was going on. The address of the burglary is now listed by SPD as 4500 block of 47th SW. I’ll amend the caption on the top photo (I’m about to add two more).

  • Mike January 23, 2015 (4:49 pm)

    Good news!!! But are the two suspects back out on the street already?

    • WSB January 23, 2015 (4:54 pm)

      I don’t know their names, ages, nor whether they are juveniles, so I don’t know where they were taken for processing. We’ll be following up on their status Monday. SPD media relations/public affairs tweeted briefly about this a short time after we published this report, so perhaps we’ll even get a blotter post with added details. P.S. We’ve added another round of information to the earlier story about the robbery arrest.

      • WSB January 23, 2015 (5:20 pm)

        UPDATE – See above. SPD did turn it into a Blotter post, so we know the suspects are both 20, which means we’ll be able to track them through the system.

  • chelle January 23, 2015 (5:03 pm)

    Great job vigilant neighbors and spd!

  • JeffK January 23, 2015 (5:04 pm)

    Great job SPD!

    Throw away the key.

  • TanDL January 23, 2015 (5:25 pm)

    Whoa… that’s a little too close to home for comfort. Good job and thanks, SPD!

  • NW January 23, 2015 (5:28 pm)

    I would like to start to see a follow up of how we can as a community reach out to this young individual and help them see how unsustainable this lifestyle is! Now that would be beneficial!

  • Lola January 23, 2015 (5:35 pm)

    So glad to hear they were caught, I live a few blocks away from this. My son alerted me that he had seen it on the WSB. At first I thought it was someone walking that had gotten robbed since there has been a lot of that going on. So glad that nobody got hurt especially the lady who phoned it in and reported it. Good job neighbors.

  • garden_nymph January 23, 2015 (5:38 pm)

    Double Thumbs up for the SPD!!!

  • chuck and sally's van man January 23, 2015 (5:56 pm)

    Oh hell yeah!!!! Man, it doesn’t happen often when the perps get busted red-handed, but when it does it’s worthy of celebration. Let’s hope the JUDGE does not let these two off easily.

  • colleen January 23, 2015 (5:59 pm)

    kudos to the woman who reported this and the rapid and professional police response.

  • Tty January 23, 2015 (6:14 pm)

    That is my neighborhood too, good job SPD! There are a lot of people that are at home during the day in our neighborhood and I am thankful for all of my good neighbors!

  • Beto January 23, 2015 (6:19 pm)

    Great news! Two thives in custody is always great. I hope we can see their mugshots at some point. I’m glad those lowlifes didn’t hurt the lady.

  • sophista-tiki January 23, 2015 (6:26 pm)

    YAY!!!!

  • Debra January 23, 2015 (6:27 pm)

    Make a statement and prosecute them both to the full extent of the law, perhaps these other thugs and gangs will get the community message, 20 year old are adults and should be treated as such verus poor misunderstood children.

  • Ws resident January 23, 2015 (7:05 pm)

    A burglary during daylight in such a busy area? Pretty brazen fools.

  • Graham Morgan January 23, 2015 (7:19 pm)

    I hope those punks had to lay in that cold wet grass for a long time.

  • wetone January 23, 2015 (7:24 pm)

    Thanks police officers for catching them, now let’s see how the rest of the system works as that’s the real problem or if their back out to continue their pillaging all to soon. Would like to know where they call home. Have lived within a few blocks of this area a long time, but the last couple years things have got worse with car and home crimes as many other places throughout the city. I see no end soon as the mayor seems to be throwing all the city’s budget into a hole and elsewhere, shorting many of the city’s departments.

  • Lisa S January 23, 2015 (8:28 pm)

    Yesterday around 1:00 P.M this happend to 3 of on Delridge! I sure hope you caught them! I was pulling into the garage when they were in my house!

  • Dzag January 23, 2015 (8:59 pm)

    Knowing Pete Holmes office they will probably get a plea bargain and just get probation

    Great job SPD it’s too bad the city prosecutor doesn’t have a back bone

    • WSB January 23, 2015 (9:07 pm)

      Residential burglary is a felony so they won’t be going through the city, they’ll be going through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

  • dsa January 23, 2015 (9:27 pm)

    I’m glad the woman hiding and called the incident in was not hurt, did not have to confront the intruders. Having someone ransacking your house while you are in it can scare the daylights out of you. If you know her, give her a hug.

  • dsa January 23, 2015 (9:29 pm)

    Of course she might have said to 911, if they open the closet door, I’m opening shooting.

  • Mike January 23, 2015 (9:42 pm)

    That is a brave lady, I applaud her for staying away and calling for help. It’s nice to know she’s not hurt (maybe shaken up though) and the police arrested these two crooks. Can I throw the book at them, I’d love to actually throw a hardback dictionary at them.

  • Azimuth January 23, 2015 (11:11 pm)

    Mike, it would more effective to throw them at the book instead.

  • Lily av January 23, 2015 (11:44 pm)

    thank you neighbor for calling 911 and thank you SPD for taking care of business.

  • KC January 24, 2015 (12:40 am)

    What a terrible feeling it must have been for the victim who’s home was being broken into. So good to hear that they were caught and arrested from the 911 call she made. I hope the judge will take into account the emotional distress these guys caused her.

    Will be interested to hear if they are related to any other recent WS crimes. When I looked at the KC Jail ingress for today, there’s another familiar name booked today for theft investigation– Kyle Patrick Thornton. He spent about 2 years in jail for theft and burglary crimes, some of which were home invasions here in West Seattle. Hope he’ll be locked up again, along with these two guys.

  • Mike January 24, 2015 (6:41 am)

    Azimuth, so true. I like your idea better. Let’s do it!

  • K'lo January 24, 2015 (8:10 am)

    I’m curious if the announcement that crimes such as this would result in no jail time has ramped up criminal activity?

  • joel January 24, 2015 (10:43 am)

    the no jail time stuff….isn’t there a brand new jail in kent or federal that’s never even been used?……the news 2 nights ago talked about all the rape test kits never even sent to the lab due to ‘expense’. then the next story was the dead whale under the ferry dock. they said the whale was going to be autopsied for cause of death….so we have money for whale autopsies but no money to keep criminals locked up or to send rape kits to the lab?

    • WSB January 24, 2015 (11:00 am)

      The federal government is responsible for the whale. Different pot of money. They’ve slashed what they’re spending on marine mammals these days, if you’re really concerned about that – we mentioned it a few months ago (will find the link).
      .
      The rape kits and other evidence testing is a really big problem that isn’t just about money, it’s about access to testing resources. At my last TV employer, we were doing stories about the state lab backup. In some cases, technology – for fingerprint matching, for example – is helping reduce this kind of problem, but I haven’t read up enough on the rape-kit situation to know if there’s any hope on the horizon.
      .
      The south county jail, SCORE, opened several years ago, most certainly is in use – here’s who’s in there right now. It’s not a county facility, though – it was built by seven South County cities:
      .
      http://inmateroster.scorejail.org/InmateLookup/
      .
      It’s off S. 200th in/near SeaTac. If you take 509 to the end in Des Moines and then keep heading south on the surface street (whose name escapes me) to S. 200th, turning left there, you’ll pass signage for both SCORE and for the federal detention center that’s a short distance east. Datapoint.
      .
      But as noted in our extensive recent coverage of the shelved “catch-and-release” proposal, it wasn’t a matter of no space in the county jails. The county said it would cost $2.5 million to open the empty and not-in-use wing(s) of the downtown and Kent county jails to hold the increased # of arrestees/prisoners. But then suddenly, backtracking days later after the outcry, they said “oh, the population isn’t so high in the winter so we don’t have to start this in February after all” — TR

  • Mike January 24, 2015 (10:53 am)

    Joel, different budgets by different government agencies in different jurisdiction. It would be like Microsoft paying to clear Apple of a lawsuit Apple is in.

  • carole January 24, 2015 (1:53 pm)

    Part of the loss of revenue to criminal justice funding is Eyman. A chunk of car tab money which was dedicated there is gone. I worked in the system many years and we faced cutbacks virtually every year. It’s a cumulative effect, lower revenues overall on top of a dedicated revenue stream.

  • joel January 24, 2015 (4:52 pm)

    pots of money – sure understand that but it’s ALL tax payer money and needs to be used better. no money for rape kits to be tested? the news said they were about $800 to test each. Every time Obama and Biden land at Boeing Field it costs the city of Seattle about $45k in expense. They refuse to get their money back from the DOC……3 trips a year to Seattle – that’s $135k per year….how many rape test kits will that pay for?

  • joel January 24, 2015 (4:54 pm)

    wsb….if state labs are backed up then they can outsource the work.

  • Mike January 24, 2015 (9:43 pm)

    “wsb….if state labs are backed up then they can outsource the work”
    .
    That would cost a LOT more, which they don’t have funds for. Independent labs would need to be validated and approved, then you pay extra for independent lab workers time, insurance to cover potential mistakes. But ya, they ‘could’ outsource it.

  • joel January 24, 2015 (10:00 pm)

    Mike – option A let the test kits sit and let the rapist run free. OR option B – spend an extra dime and get the kits tested and maybe get a rapist off the street? or then there is C – hire another person at the lab, keep your cost lower and get the kits tested and criminals caught. the solutions are there but it’s too easy for government to come up with 101 excuses why they can’t do something.

  • McGruff January 25, 2015 (8:24 am)

    Great job SPD! The brazen nature of these thugs is breathtaking; they could’ve just have easily done something terrible to the resident if they found her. They need to lock these guys up for a long time and make an example for the others.

  • JTB January 25, 2015 (10:48 am)

    Has anyone else living in or passing through that neighborhood sent a notice to the City that the street light on the corner of Oregon and 47th Ave SW is out? I’ve been putting it off for over a week and was motivated to get it done after reading about this robbery attempt. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get it fixed. Here I was thinking about the traffic hazard at that intersection or potential for robbery in the dark and we get a daylight break-in.

  • TMach January 27, 2015 (2:41 pm)

    Yes, we submitted request for street light replacement to City Light over the weekend.

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