From the files at the Southwest Precinct (and no, it’s not that there’s been a lot of crime lately, this is just our first run through the reports since last Thursday): 
We start with someone who went to great lengths AND great heights to commit a crime. Sometime between Thursday night and Monday morning, at the megaproject construction site on 42nd north of Alaska, someone stole two mobile radio/phones worth $750 from a crane cab — meaning, according to the police report, that they had to climb a chain link fence, go down a 30-foot wooden ladder into the big construction hole, then up a 20-foot mud hill to reach the crane, and after that, up 150 feet to the cab (and of course back down again). Next, followups on a few incidents that readers reported here in the past few days, including a drive-by shooting and the alleged Starbucks groper:
BULLET HOLES IN CAR, HOUSE: Though we didn’t see the formal report on the 44th/Hanford “shots fired” from Saturday night, we did find the report for another gunshot case that came up in the comments after that post, on 45th near Charlestown. A man told police he was inside his house when he heard several shots. Turned out not only had his car been shot, but a bullet also had come into his house, by the front door and into the living room. No one was hit. The man told police a car in front of his house had been “shot up” two years earlier.
SUSPECTED GROPER STOPPED: Last Friday morning, we shared a reader report about a man trying to touch women at the Westwood Village Starbucks. A few hours later, the same man turned up in The Junction, where an employee of one store said he had touched her inappropriately twice, and an employee of another store had noticed him “acting strangely.” Officers answering the call about him also got word of what had happened earlier at Westwood, and caught up with the 37-year-old suspect at a third Junction store. He is now ordered to stay away from the stores where he is accused of causing trouble.
TROUBLE IN ANOTHER STARBUCKS: Saturday morning, employees of the Morgan Junction Starbucks reported a man begging for money in the store; a customer complained, they approached him, he got nasty, they called 911. The 29-year-old man left before police arrived; a few hours later, a man matching the description caused a disturbance near The Junction, where officers talked with him; a bit later, they caught up with him causing trouble yet again, this time in the 5000 block of California, where they reminded him he was under orders to stay out of the Morgan Junction Starbucks nearby. But he turned up there later — and fell asleep; employees woke him up to tell him he had to leave, he refused, police then were able to arrest him for criminal trespassing. (We just checked the jail register, and as of right now, he’s still behind bars.)
BURGLARY INTERRUPTED: In the 4400 block of 40th SW, a woman came home on Saturday afternoon and found the back door window broken, with drawers emptied and stuff all over the floor. She grabbed her child and bolted for a neighbor’s house to call 911. Officers discovered an empty backpack and duffel bag in the house, leading them to believe the burglar had been interrupted before getting away with much.
BURGLARY NOT INTERRUPTED: In the 3800 block of California SW between 10 am and 7:30 pm Monday, someone entered a couple’s apartment through an unlocked bathroom window, stole “several items,” and got away through a door.
DETERMINED CAR PROWLER: Just after 3 o’clock this morning in the 8400 block of 17th SW, someone had to try three times to smash a car window to get to a purse left inside the car. The call to 911 reported “two loud thuds” followed by an alarm; police surmise that a brick was slammed first against the windshield, causing it to “spider web”; then the brick was slammed against another window but only scratched it; finally a different brick was hurled through yet another window, which did break, enabling the purse to be stolen.
DON’T LEAVE YOUR KEYS IN ANYONE’S CAR: Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, a ’99 Chevy Malibu was stolen from the 8400 block of 25th SW after someone broke into another car nearby and found the Malibu’s keys in that car.
DON’T ASSUME YOU KNOW WHO’S IN YOUR CAR: Early last Friday, a woman came home in the 3700 block of SW Oregon and noticed someone in her roommate’s car. She thought it was the roommate’s boyfriend; but a few minutes later, the roommate said no, no one should be in the car. The car intruder got away with what was described as “a small amount of change.”
ANOTHER CAR BREAK-IN: Between Friday night and Saturday morning, rubber was ripped off the window of a car in the 8400 block of 36th SW, and a stereo/CD player was stolen.
ANOTHER CAR WINDOW BROKEN: Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, the driver-side window of a car in the 7500 block of 24th SW was smashed, but it didn’t appear anything was taken.
BRICK THROWN THROUGH DOOR: Before 7 pm last Friday night, a brick was thrown through the glass in the front door of a home in the 3700 block of Admiral. (9:35 PM UPDATE: As Diana mentions in the comments below, this is the incident she describes in a 1/11/08 post that’s on our Crime Watch page. More details there.)
CHURCH GRAFFITI: A neighbor told police this morning that a large amount of graffiti had appeared over the weekend on walls and a fence at the Seattle Gospel Hall Church in the 9200 block of 3rd SW.
INTERESTING CORRECTION: Saturday afternoon, police investigating a hit-and-run at Fauntleroy and Findlay pulled over a suspect vehicle in the 6900 block of Fauntleroy. They found the car’s owner in the back seat; he first tried to give them a fake name, but finally admitted who he was. They say he was in possession of five pipes; when an officer asked him why he had so many crack pipes, according to the police report, he said, they’re not crack pipes, they’re meth pipes.
As we always remind you – don’t hesitate to call police when you see or hear something suspicious, and of course when you believe a crime has been (or is being) committed. In addition to 911, there’s a non-emergency line at 206/625-5011. A big collection of Seattle Police crime-prevention resources is available online here. And previous WSB police-report coverage is archived on our Crime Watch page.
| 22 COMMENTS