(UPDATED 11:02 PM with new details about suspects)

ORIGINAL STORY, 2:39 PM: Several people e-mailed to ask about that police activity in the back parking lot at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor). Bottom line, a stolen truck’s been recovered and two people have been detained, thanks to a tip from a WSB reader. Here’s how it unfolded:

WSB’s Katie Meyer heard scanner traffic with a police dispatcher sending officers to Thriftway because a caller reported seeing a stolen vehicle that had been featured here on WSB. We subsequently went over to check out the situation – and in the meantime heard from the tipster, James, who tells us he was shopping at Thriftway when he spotted the truck, recalling it from this West Seattle Crime Watch report published early Friday – a Nissan Frontier stolen just south of the city limits. He also sent us this photo taken after police arrived:

Police ordered that man out of the truck at gunpoint (standard procedure for felonies such as auto theft). When we talked with officers at the scene a bit later, they told us he was waiting for a female companion to come back from shopping inside the store – which is where police caught up with her, taking both into custody. James also reports seeing police find at least one gun: “As I was pulling away, to get my ice cream home, it looked as though officers had recovered a revolver from the truck – they were holding it like a stinky sock, so I suspect it is evidence. It is also a good reminder to not get overly involved and to let the police handle this sort of thing.”

We’ll do our best to follow up on this and see what we can find out about the suspects and where the case goes from here.

ADDED 2:52 PM: David, who had been shopping at the store with his girlfriend just before the arrests, e-mailed us to describe what he saw: “On our way to the car we had seen a police car enter the parking lot from California with its lights on, but no siren … (then) four additional police cars with lights on pulled into the parking lot from the other side … Then the officers got out of the cars and drew their guns in our direction and shouted ‘Driver, get out of the car!’ and they asked us to move aside quickly – we hadn’t even seen the guy sitting in a black pickup truck right near us. We watched from the sidewalk behind Thriftway as the driver got out and they arrested him. They also took a woman into custody shortly thereafter. After a short while one of the officers pulled a dark handgun from the truck and put it in a bag.”

ADDED 4:30 PM: Received from the truck’s owners:

Nathan I would very much like to thank the West Seattle Blog and the ever-searching eyes of its readers (Thanks, James! You rock)) for helping to locate our missing vehicle and apprehend the persons responsible for its theft. We hope to see them in court! What a great service the WSB provides for our community. In talking to the Seattle Police Department they had nothing but high praise for the WSB and its readers.

The truck had minimal damage, although the inside is pretty trashed. They even managed to rip the seats on a two month old pickup? There were several stolen items recovered, that were not ours, but very strangely from another Nathan Adams! Hopefully those items will make it back to their rightful owner. Word of warning to the WSB readers, the thief had a master key and was able to steal the truck with ease. We are taking extra precautions to make sure nothing like this happens to either of our vehicles in the future. Something for everyone to think about.

Thanks again for helping us recover our pickup. We so greatly appreciate it.

Michale Farrar
Nathan Adams

7:51 PM UPDATE: Turns out police found more than the aforementioned handgun – this case has now turned up on SPD Blotter, where the story includes:

… The stolen truck had weapons inside including a .22 caliber revolver and a loaded shotgun. The truck was packed with stolen property taken from a number of burglaries ( jewelry, laptops, etc.) and carprowls in both the city and KCSO’s jurisdiction. It took multiple officers hours to catalog and process all of the stolen items. The female suspect also had outstanding burglary warrants. Both suspects were booked into the King County Jail for the felony charges. Detectives will handle the follow up investigation.

11:02 PM UPDATE: More details on the 20-year-old man and 33-year-old woman arrested – both have records; hers dates back 20 years. According to the King County Jail Register, she is being held for investigation of unlawful firearms possession and for a $15,075 warrant related to a failure to appear in a case involving an attempted burglary in south King County last year. Off-and-on technical trouble is still keeping us from bringing up details on his booking, but his record shows a guilty plea to a drug charge last year. Court documents show the drugs were found when he was arrested on suspicion of car prowling – in the 9400 block of 25th SW, four blocks from the scene of the theft of the truck in which he was found today.

MONDAY MORNING NOTE: Once the jail-register website started working again, we found that this is the sixth time in jail for the male suspect in the past year. He is being held for investigation of car theft, investigation of stolen property, and failure-to-appear warrants.

Working right now on the story of a DIFFERENT stolen vehicle just recovered thanks to a WSB reader. But first – please be on the lookout for this one, reported by Kathy:

Our dark green Chrysler Cirrus, plate 129WJF, was stolen between 2:15 and 5:45 in the afternoon on July 6th from in front of our house on the 44 hundred block just down from Genesee. I appreciate folks keeping an eye out for it.