We start tonight’s Crime Watch roundup with some information on an incident that several people have e-mailed tonight to ask about – another guns-drawn arrest on The Bridge late this morning. We started checking on it after one note then, but didn’t get enough details to report until we saw Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James and Lt. Steve Paulsen at tonight’s Southwest District Council meeting (separate report to come). Lt. James says it started as a domestic-violence incident in northeast West Seattle – the call went out to watch for a certain vehicle with a suspect who apparently has had encounters with police before; after a brief pursuit the vehicle was stopped on The Bridge, and the numerous police vehicles that had been engaged in “containment” to try to catch the suspect pre-bridge flocked to the scene. The domestic-violence victim, Lt. James says, was not seriously hurt. Now, on to several reports including graffiti – with a request for ideas – a car theft, and a car break-in:

From a resident who wanted to be anonymous:

I live in Highland Park and we are having a graffiti problem. The former masjid (now vacant) on the corner of 11th and Henderson [map] was tagged with red bubble letters around Xmas. Someone painted over half of it to cover it up but it looks like they ran out of paint. Well, it was tagged again with blue last night. What should I do about it? Call the police? Do the police monitor tags? Should we buy the owner of the former masjid a security camera?

We advised the non-emergency police number, for starters – 206-625-5011 – and be sure to take a photo of the vandalism before painting it over; local police have said they DO track graffiti vandalism in a database. Now, the car-theft report, from Connie:

Similar to another story on the blog this morning, I wanted to let everyone knowabout a stolen car at the Westwood Plaza Condominiums (25th and Trenton) [map] across from Westwood Village. Around 8:15 p.m. a 1992 Gray 4-door Honda Accord was stolen from the parking lot. The owners had not been home for more than 15 minutes when it was stolen. The previous week one of the owners had noticed a strange person in the parking lot who pretended to go into one of the secure corridors; however, he was fumbling with his keys and was waiting for the owner to go into her separate corridor. It’s very likely this person was scouting the area for a target. The owners do not leave any valuables in the vehicle and it also has a club on the steering wheel. Interestingly they dumped the contents of the ash tray (change) onto the ground. This incident has been reported to the police. I would suggest that everyone be aware of this recent activity and report anything suspicious to the police immediately

And Sean reports his friend’s truck was broken into last night in the parking lot by Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) [map].

The window of my friend’s pickup truck was smashed last night in the Skylark parking lot around 9 PM and my black and green Echo Limited work backpack was stolen off the seat (police report was filed). There was nothing really of value in my backpack, just a bunch of work papers, my bus book, paystubs, dirty Tupperware from lunch, etc. Luckily the thieves did not see my girlfriend’s work pack on the floor, because there were items of value in it. More than anything I am bummed for my friend who has to replace the window on his truck and fix the damage done to his door panel when the thief missed the window several times with the socket wrench that was used to smash the window. My friend has very recently moved to the area from Maui and he had just picked his truck up from the port before we went to Skylark. Needless to say he’s not feeling a very warm Northwest welcome so far!

Sean says Skylark ownership bought them a round on the house while they awaited the police. He also says it’s a reminder that we all hear and yet sometimes don’t heed – police say this repeatedly – don’t leave anything in your car, in plain view or not; car prowls are among the most common crimes – we should get the newest stats when the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets January 19th.