We first got a tip about this last week but couldn’t get it confirmed until today; now we’ve talked with both Southwest Precinct Detective Nick Bauer and Senior Center of West Seattle director Karen Sisson, and here’s what we can tell you: Police are investigating a costly break-in that also left behind some serious damage at the Senior Center HQ in The Junction. It happened sometime last Sunday night/early Monday. Sisson told WSB this morning that the burglars got into the center’s 1950s era safe and stole the equivalent of $5,000, including $2,500 in Safeway gift cards and $400 in postage stamps. But that’s not the Senior Center’s only loss – at least $3,000 in repairs are needed to office doors and walls damaged by the burglar/s, including what the police report described as two 2-foot holes in plasterboard in corridor walls. Locked file cabinets were broken into as well, even one, according to the police report, related to the Meals on Wheels program. No arrests so far; it’s the second prominent Junction nonprofit hit recently — the American Legion hall was broken into a week earlier. Police don’t know at this point if the two burglaries are related. (P.S. We are following up to see whether there’s anything specifically the Senior Center needs to have donated because of this – will add to the story, but in the meantime, they take donations year-round, and there’s even an online-donation link from this SC of WS page.) ADDED MONDAY AFTERNOON: Police have provided a surveillance-camera framegrab – see above left – they hope might help solve the break-in. Call 911 if you have any idea who it might be.
West Seattle, Washington
22 Thursday
| 14 COMMENTS