West Seattle Crime Watch: Child reports luring attempt in Admiral

Someone tried to lure a child into a car last night, according to this report just in from Sandy, who wanted to “warn parents and schools in the neighborhood about this”:

I just wanted to let you know about something that happened yesterday in the Admiral District.

At approx. 6 pm, my eleven year old nephew and his 9 year old brother were skateboarding and biking around our block (the 1500 block of California ave SW) [map]. They were just going around it in a circle, as they are not allowed to cross the street. For just a brief few minutes, the older boy was out of our sight. He went to the top of the block and was coming down the sidewalk near our home when a man in a black car pulled up and opened his rear passenger door and said, “Get in, I’ve got some licorice for you.”

Thank God this kid was old enough and smart enough to run as fast as he could to get help. The man drove off quickly.

The police did come and take a report and were wonderful with this scared young boy. They assured him that he had done nothing wrong and had in fact done everything right.

We checked the time-lag police-report map, and there is indeed a “suspicious circumstances” call logged for that area for that time last night. We are checking with the Southwest Precinct to see if there have been any other similar reports lately, or if this seems to have been an isolated report.

2:34 PM UPDATE: From the police report, a more detailed description: White man, 30-50, black hair, mustache, medium build, gray shirt, blue jeans, heart-shaped earring, smaller black car.

20 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Child reports luring attempt in Admiral"

  • onceachef June 14, 2011 (2:15 pm)

    SOB! I hope you get caught…grrrr.

  • cstar June 14, 2011 (2:35 pm)

    Oh my, how frightening! Thank you for sharing this scary story. I am so glad your nephew is ok. Was he able to give any further description of the car?

    • WSB June 14, 2011 (2:53 pm)

      Cstar, since your comment, I have spoken with police, and while there is no further description of the car, there was a more detailed description of the man, which I’ve added to the story – TR

  • SH June 14, 2011 (2:55 pm)

    We live a block away and have two boys. We will keep an eye out. I see a neighborhood watch in the future!

  • cstar June 14, 2011 (3:16 pm)

    Thanks WSB, that’s even more helpful. I hope this creep is long gone but that police will find him nonetheless.

  • R26 June 14, 2011 (3:20 pm)

    A good reminder to talk to your kids
    http://www.stopitnow.org/

  • ellenater June 14, 2011 (3:24 pm)

    Thanks for the update!

  • Traci June 14, 2011 (3:38 pm)

    Sooo creepy and scary :(

  • T-Rex June 14, 2011 (4:06 pm)

    These creeps are everywhere instead of where they should be: Jail for life or better yet, DEAD.

    Who is God’s name thinks these people ever get better?? THEY DO NOT.

  • Cbo June 14, 2011 (5:27 pm)

    Say What!!!
    Off with his head!!!

  • Yossarian June 14, 2011 (8:38 pm)

    Kudos to the kid to be guarded and use good common sense. To that end, kudos to the parents and schools as well for teaching him to not fall trap to this monster, it takes a village. Always be vigilant, and aware, these monsters walk amongst us.

  • Irukandji June 14, 2011 (9:05 pm)

    Thanks for the report! We got to spend the afternoon roleplaying ‘hey kid, can you help me…’ and ‘I’ve got some candy here…’ and ‘have you seen my puppy…?’

  • A June 14, 2011 (10:22 pm)

    We’ve been practicing the role-playing with our 5yo son for awhile now. One that my mom added for us is “your mom/dad is in the hospital and they asked me to pick you up…” or something along those lines.

  • MIKEY June 15, 2011 (7:26 am)

    Lock and load

  • Owlish June 15, 2011 (8:30 am)

    Sorry to be grim, but according to kidnapping by stranger statistics, this kid would have been killed had the perp been successful. Why is this not on the front page of the Seattle Times today? How often do attempts like this happen?

  • Neighbor June 15, 2011 (9:23 am)

    If your little neck of the woods has an email list this might be a good thing to alert parents to.

  • troubled June 15, 2011 (11:30 am)

    Woah nelly! Let’s not go overboard with “He would have been killed”, let’s shoot him, etc.

    The best thing we can do is make sure our kids know what to do and that we’re keeping a good eye on them and helping the police do their job… We don’t need scare mongering so everyone’s afraid to go outside or some vigilante does even more harm by hurting someone that’s innocent.

    Stepping off soap box.

  • Linda gordon June 15, 2011 (4:41 pm)

    I too had seen a encounter last Thursday in Arbor Heights following a young Girl maybe in the late teens. I watched this to make sure that she was safe However failed to get a license plate as i was not real sure that she didn’t know him….Talked with her later and she stated “he was saying some real creepy things” It also was a black Shiny car more of a small compact type The man I saw was bald with sunglasses. Beware that this could be the same person with a toupee of sorts to disguise his looks. Be aware folks and Look out for others and don’t hesitate to step up to help My only wish is that I had my cell phone handy to take a picture of the car. Stay safe all with your eye’s wide open……..

  • noah June 15, 2011 (5:31 pm)

    The story was mostly accurate however the man asked me if i wanted any candy as he held licorice in his hands to give me.

  • Father June 15, 2011 (5:45 pm)

    Assuming the predator is reading this:

    If I witness you attempt this I will follow you and deal with you in a primitive manner according to the caveman instincts you arouse in me.

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