This afternoon’s West Seattle Crime Watch notes include a “happy ending” to a car theft reported here, plus 4 other reader reports, all ahead:

First, from Todd, who e-mailed yesterday about his truck stolen in Gatewood – it’s been found:

This afternoon I recovered my truck from 4612 Beach Dr. SW, here in West Seattle, where it appears to have been staying for the last two days. Great BIG happy thanks to Michian of Keystone Windows and Doors, for noticing something amiss (two windows were left open by the ne’er-do-wells), and for calling the Police. Amazingly, there is no damage to the truck, and two of the three stolen items were already broken (I think maybe Tim Conway and Harvey Korman did it!:)

An interesting side note is that Michian’s partner’s truck was recently stolen from Beach Drive, and left near Myrtle Street, so I suspect that the thieves reside near both locations.

Also from Gatewood, reported by Adrian:

In case you got any other similar reports during that time frame, the storage bin in my apartment building was broken into over the weekend while I was out of town. A couple hundred dollars worth of tools, computer parts, and home-brewing equipment was taken. Gatewood by Frontenac & California.

Another break-in last weekend, this one reported by Paul:

I live on the 5000 block of 35th Ave near Camp Long. On Sunday the 19th, between the hours of 7:30am and 8:30pm, my front door was kicked in and several items (mostly of sentimental value) were stolen. This is the second break-in I’ve suffered in the last few months, and upon speaking to my neighbor to the south, he’s been broken into approximately three times over the last four or five months—although he was not hit on Sunday. To the best of my knowledge, no other neighbors in the immediate vicinity was burglarized, although some police were seen in front of a house some way down on 35th on Monday afternoon.

This burglary was different than the last one suffered which I sent in and your website noted here (see “Paul”).

In the one suffered in the link above, the break-in was more discreet, breaking in a side basement window, going through all drawers and seemingly looking for specific items. This was much more brazen– a ‘smash-and-grab’ where the front door was kicked with the frame splintered all over the floor. The bedroom was literally tossed with bed turned over, and odd items were taken, including my daughter’s Nintendo DS Lite. According to the responding officer, the pattern seemed to fit more of a juvenile profile than the previous “professional” burglaries.

While the officers involved informed me that they believe they caught the last group, this now seems to be an ongoing situation that shows no sign of abating (considering you reported that on the 13th five people were arrested).

I strongly recommend anyone living in the ‘35th ave corridor’ to start taking serious precautions against these brazen, daytime burglaries. Security doors, security systems which are monitored, barring doors and windows.

Also, leaving children at home alone should probably be reconsidered as we often tell our children (including older children), “Don’t answer the door if a stranger knocks”. Unfortunately, not answering the door is precisely the invitation to break into the home, as the burglary M.O. seems to be: Knock on a front door, if no answer, knock on a back door, if no answer, break into the home.

And two cases of parked cars being shot at. The first victim doesn’t want to be identified:

(Sunday) night on the 6000 block of 41st Ave. S.W. three parked cars were shot with what appears to be a pellet gun. They shot two of our vehicles and our next door neighbors’ shattering our rear window on one denting the other two.

And for Howard – it’s the second February in a row this has happened:

Just wanted to say that our Xterra’s back window was shot out again overnight 2/20/12. This is at the corner of 29th Ave SW and Cloverdale where the new park was just completed at the old Denny Middle School site. Coincidentally, it’s exactly 1 year since this last happened. The car was parked on my driveway this time and there are signs where the bullets missed the window but hit the car. Police report has been filed.

(Here’s the Crime Watch report from when it happened last year.

Side note: If you missed the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting last night (here’s our report), you have another chance next Tuesday to hear from local police and learn more about neighborhood crime prevention. 6:30 pm February 28th at the precinct (Delridge/Webster), it’s the next meeting of the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network.
You do NOT have to be a Blockwatch Captain to attend.