West Seattle Crime Watch: Robbers on cam; hit-run; bike thefts

| Crime | West Seattle news

Tonight’s West Seattle Crime Watch roundup starts with robbers caught on cam:

That’s one of 7 photos released by Seattle Police from last month’s Admiral Way 7-11 holdup. We reported briefly on the robbery the morning it happened; SPD says the young robbers made off with very little, but need to be caught – take a close look at all the photos on SPD Blotter, which also has the number to call if you recognize any of them.

Also on the loose: The hit-run driver who smashed into David‘s black Kia Soul tonight:

My car was hit at about 5:30 pm (tonight) at the corner of 41st Ave SW and Alaska. Witnesses describe the car as a dark, possibly green, sedan driven by two young men. It fled the scene, turning north on 42nd Ave SW. The car will have damage on the front/passenger side.

David says witnesses described the two as “hipsters, and one was wearing a wool hat with tassels.”

And another report of bikes stolen during a break-in at a condo building. In our last roundup, it was along Harbor Avenue; this time, south of Morgan Junction:

We are e-mailing to inform the blog that West Water Condominums at 6970 California Ave SW has experienced at least 2 (possibly 3) garage break-ins over the past month. … Burglars broke into our garage by removing a metal plate, then used bolt cutters to steal the bikes. The police and management were notified. On the 15th, 2 more bikes were stolen, for a total of 8+ bikes in the past 2 months. Please post, as we are noticing a trend of this type of crime in our area.

Eric January 11, 2013 (6:26 am)

Why wait a month before putting these photos out? It doesn’t make sense. Well it seems the gunman is most likely left handed since he was holding the gun in his left hand. Maybe these photos should be distributed to the surrounding schools. Staff might know who these people are.

I have to say, in my last 3 interactions with the police when I was reporting something, I have been extremely dissapointed in the police. Lazy and sloppy police work, lacking common sense in my opinion. I am also extremely dissapointed with the West Seattle’s acting Captain. I spoke with him on these issues during a crime prevention meeting at the WS precinct and he promised to get back to me within a day or two to resolve the issue. He assured me that he would get to the bottom of the situation himself. That was months ago.

That’s not to say that all police are like this, but this has been my experience the past 3 times.

WSB January 11, 2013 (7:28 am)

Eric – Not sure who you are referring to but SPD has just rotated captains, as they do every two years or so, and the SW Precinct’s previous commander, Capt. Joe Kessler, is in charge as of a week and a half ago.
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https://westseattleblog.com/2013/01/followup-capt-joe-kessler-now-back-in-west-seattle-as-southwest-precinct-commander
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His predecessor Capt. Steve Paulsen is now in charge of the South Precinct.
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As for the month between robbery and video – I don’t know the reason; surveillance photos/video is not often made available at all, but this just suddenly turned up last night on SPD Blotter, which is published from the public affairs/media relations office downtown, spotlighting cases that come to their attention – so we pointed to it here … TR

resident January 11, 2013 (8:10 am)

I’ve called police to report drug dealings going on and they’ve done nothing. It’s only heroin, no big deal, take your time

Bob January 11, 2013 (11:18 am)

Another good citizen who wishes the cops did some good. After a home invasion robbery several years ago (they tied everyone up and beat one of us) with plenty of evidence afterthey tried using the stolen credit cards and video footage of them. Of course nothing happened. This was in the seward park neighborhood. Later in capitol hill we were having lots of property thefts, culminating in our family’s bikes being stolen. I managed to get some people together and look for the bikes (the cops said they couldnt do anything) and sure enough we found the perps riding the bikes in the street. Had to chase them down to try to get them back, only catching one person. At that point the cops came but couldnt get the rest of them.

I wish I had confidence in the police, but they are simply the biggest gang around.

WSratsinacage January 11, 2013 (2:11 pm)

I can’t tell you how many times I have brought issues to the SPD or WSP and to have them say, “Yeah, great, we really appreciate it when the public gets involved” .. only to have the concerns go unaddressed for years despsite follow ups. They don’t really care or they are just too overwhelmed to care.

markinthedark January 11, 2013 (4:24 pm)

I find it intersting that these convenience store cameras seem better positioned to watch their employees.

Maria January 12, 2013 (11:20 am)

markinthedark – If you worked in a susceptible store, you’d know as an employee this is where you’d want the camera to protect you. I’m sure they serve the owners a double purpose, so what’s wrong with that.

Sorry, comment time is over.