West Seattle Crime Watch: 3 break-ins; school scare

4 Crime Watch notes: 1st, we checked with the precinct regarding a report published this morning at SeattleCrime.com regarding an incident last week on the grounds of Madison Middle School. Police confirm that “a bottle filled with flammable fluid was thrown on the roof of the school” around 5 pm 12/12 and that nobody’s been arrested.

Also in Crime Watch, three break-in reports. First one is from a WSB’er near 38th/Dakota (map) who says a neighbor’s home was broken into around 12:30 pm Wednesday – while someone was home. The burglar, they tell us, started knocking on the front door; the person at home decided to ignore the knocking – but shortly thereafter, the burglar went around back and kicked in the door. Our tipster adds:

… thankfully the person ran off when they realized someone was home. The police told our neighbor our block would be put on the watch list for extra patrols. It is scary — we live high up on a hill and it is not easy for people to come up all the stairs to knock to begin with — then to go through a gated privacy fence to kick in a back door? Really disturbing.

Two other break-in reports ahead:

From Sharon at 35th/Roxbury (map):

Last Sunday morning, about 2:30 a.m., a man broke into a van and found a garage opener for the garage of the Olympic Park condominium. He used it to enter the garage and spent about and hour plus breaking into storage units gathering a pile of things to take. He then broke the lock of a truck in the garage, presumably to haul the stuff out in. When a resident came down into the garage to head for work around 3:30 a.m., he confronted the looter and the looter took off out the emergency exit in the back of the garage.

And from Angus:

I thought the High Point community might be interested to know that our car window was smashed and the car was broken into on Monday night 12/14 around 8:30 PM. This happened in the alley behind the west side of 35th Ave near the High Point Library (map). Our neighbor interrupted the burglary in progress, and chased two teen age african american males away. One of them tripped on a curb and fell down. He then threatened the neighbor physically saying that he would hit him if he came any closer, before fleeing on foot. This was reported to the police who came by the house to take a report. One comment the officer made is that after a several year reprive, crime in High Point is now beginning to increase now that people are moving back into the redeveloped neighborhood.

old timer December 18, 2009 (6:18 pm)

“…after a several year reprive, crime in High Point is now beginning to increase now that people are moving back into the redeveloped neighborhood.”
.
And I would guess that the speaker is not referring to the folks
who are on the hook for $400,000, or more, for their homes.
Let’s hope it does not return to the times of nightly High Point gunfire.
Social engineering – science or religion?

luckylou December 18, 2009 (6:21 pm)

We live on 35th near Providence Mt. St. Vincent and Hudson St. Lately we’ve had a couple people coming to the house to knock on the door past dinner hours.

The most recent was last night (12/17) at 7:45 p.m., a black male claiming to be surveying people about Obama’s healthcare plan. The previous time was about a week ago at around 8:30 p.m. but my wife did not answer so I don’t know the premise of that visit.

Has anybody actually answered the door and sized up the visitor? I’m curious to see if there is an actual survey. I think 7:45 p.m. at this time of year (or any) is an odd time to be taking healthcare surveys, so my guess would be they’re checking to see if people are home.

As with the previous poster, you have to go up a lot of steps to get to our front door unless you come the back way from the alley, but either way it’s not a casual visit. Somebody is motivated to see if someone’s home.

Anybody we know would call in advance. Nobody just knocks on your door at 8:30 p.m. anymore.

Please remember to set your house alarms even when you’re at home. We set ours to go off immediately if any window or door, even the front, opens.

It’s unsettling hearing these break-in stories, especially since our home and our neighbor’s home were both burglarized three years ago. Ours had less taken due to our alarm, but I am not pleased with the idea of this happening again, especially given the police’s slow response time.

I think I’ll be looking into a firearm as my Christmas present this year.

New to the Area December 21, 2009 (5:52 pm)

We recently moved here from the South Sound. Last week in the middle of the afternoon my dog alarmed me with his ‘someone is really here’ bark. I checked and there was a fella coming up the hill in our garden. Note: we have no access to our street below, it is all overgrown and there are no stairs, our access is from the alley. When the fellow saw me at the door he bent his head, (he had a ball cap on) turned and disappeared to the street level. I called after him asking what he wanted and why was he in our yard. He made a mumbled reply and fairly ran down the street. I did not give chase. Now I am fearful of a break in.
I am glad I have a big dog.

Travis December 22, 2009 (12:43 pm)

I think a big dog is a much better choice for deflecting a break in. If someone hears a deep bark coming from your house, its unlikely they are going to try to break in.
Unless you want to shoot off a couple rounds into your ceiling every time someone knocks on your door.
Seems like the logical choice to me.

Vern December 23, 2009 (12:12 pm)

FYI. Right around Halloween weekend I went to walk my dog. I crossed the street from my house and started to walk up the hill on 50th between Genesee & Oregon. It was about 6:30 or so at night and very dark out. I walked up about 2 houses when some guy from across the street (same side of the street as my house) said hello. I said hello back since I thought it was my neighbor. Then I quickly realized it was not my neighbor or anyone else I knew. I could not see his face and just barely the outline of his body. He then started to walk across the street and asked if my dog was nice. I replied “not really”. Then I started to walk up the hill. I did not want to introduce him to my dog to some stranger. Since it was so dark I only took a few steps up the hill and started to watch him. He continued walking down the hill past my house. I left the front porch light on and saw that he was about 5’7-5’9 of medium build, possilby hispanic.He continued down the hill to Oregon and then crossed the street under the street lamp. He then started to walk up the hill behind 2 other people in which it looked like he was talking to them. At this point I was able to get a better look at all of them. They looked possibly hispanic and in late teens to late 20’s. They continued to walk up the hill in which I did as well. I was suspicious from the start. So, I walked up the hill, crossed the street and walked back down the hill. I looked for the 3 guys. But, they were gone. I was very, very suspicious of this guy!

Since we have a dog he may have known which house I lived in and wanted to get friendly with my dog. No way!

I should have reported this sooner. I have reported suspicious activity before and will try to continue doing so.

Tlee December 23, 2009 (7:40 pm)

So,
a human tried to greet you and meet your dog. He walked down the street. He talked to two other people and they walked away.
I’d like to give humans a bit more credit than that. They dont appear to have done anything wrong.
Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, there is a large percentage of possibly hispanic people living in West Seattle. You might want to try getting used to that.

Vern December 24, 2009 (10:13 am)

I am not being prejudice at all. I was simply being honest of my observations.

Yes being a female and being on the other side of the street in the pitch dark and having someone yell out hello from across the street and then ask if my dog was nice when I couldn’t see him and didn’t even know he was there is creepy to me. I have walked my dog in my neighborhood many times and have never had someone even in broad daylight say hello from across the street.

I have told the story to a few people and not one person disagreed with my opinion.

You have your opinion and that is fine. It is what it is. I am not trying to offend anyone. Just simply noting suspicious activity in my neighborhood.

Sorry, comment time is over.