West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 reader reports, including warning from a parent

Two reader reports this afternoon – starting with this one from a concerned parent, which might not have been a crime but was enough to raise her suspicions and get the word out:

I am writing to report a suspicious person who tried to solicit a conversation with my 13-year-old daughter after following her several blocks and passing her in his car 5 times while she was out walking our dog. Starting in the area of the 4000 block of SW Charlestown St. and contact made on the 3400 block of 38th Ave SW. Police were contacted and report filed.

Description:
late 20s/early 30s
white/caucasian male with glasses
normal build (unknown height)
dark or brown mid-length hair
driving small silver 4 door car

She was walking a 100+ pound dog! Gutsy!!

Also: Rachelle reports a search in her neighborhood, the 4800 block of Delridge Way, early this morning:

I woke up at 3 am 7/2/13 to my dogs barking in the backyard and flashes of light coming through the bedroom windows. I went to the front door and saw police searching outside our house, neighboring houses, and throughout the block. I asked what was going on and they said there was someone breaking into cars/houses and they had just jumped the fence into our backyard. He advised us to stay inside the house. Shortly after, a K9 unit arrived, so they asked us to bring our dogs inside. They searched around our house and block until about 5 am at which time they came and told us they had finished their search. The suspects had gotten away, probably headed south. They said the call came in when the suspects had broken into a garage north of our house. Apparently, there were 2 of them and they were seen with a yellow crowbar.

As much as stuff like this sakes me up a bit, I am so thankful that at least we have the officers in the SW Precinct. They always respond so quickly and are very thorough in their searches/investigations. Their kindness, communication with us, advice and understanding always helps put us at ease (if such a thing exists in a situation like this). This isn’t our first rodeo with events such as these in the neighborhood. Its reassuring to know they’re looking out. Hopefully they catch these guys. Just wanted to make the community aware. Be safe, folks.

We haven’t heard directly from any of the reported break-in victims but we do see a police auto-tweet about a middle-of-the-night break-in report in the 4700 block of 25th SW.

ADDED: After publishing this, we received two notes possibly related to the aforementioned incident:

From Sarah:

I live at the corner of Delridge and SW Holden, and around 11 pm or so last night, I heard my neighbor yelling at someone through her back window about her car. Turns out she was scaring someone away from her car, who was already inside the vehicle. My apartment is directly behind her parking space, and I saw him get out of the car and run. She called the police and filed a report. Don’t know if that is related, but there you go…

And from Harmony:

Just a heads up. Last night I accidentally left our exterior garage door cracked after going to bed. I had opened it earlier in the evening to air out the garage and get some airflow in the house and forgot to close it up. Woke up at 3am this morning realizing it was still cracked, so I went downstairs to close it and found a man in my garage. He had squeezed under the door and did some tagging with some spray paint I had, tagging the car and a folding table up against a wall, but didn’t take or break anything. Called the police and he took off. Don’t know if they found him. Watch out leaving your windows open in this warm weather. We’re in the 4700 block of 25th, just South of Delridge Field.

7 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 reader reports, including warning from a parent"

  • Halbe July 2, 2013 (11:56 pm)

    Our garage was broken into this weekend (2900 block of 30th). They entered with a crowbar but did not steal anything. This is the second break-in on our property in 6 weeks. The first time they broke into our home and stole thousands of dollars of electronics. A report was filed both times – no perp found.

  • Cait July 3, 2013 (8:29 am)

    Harmony – we live very close to you. Is the tagging similar to the one on the abandoned house mid-block? I know there were squatters there for a while and a police car was parked outside of it yesterday around 5am.

  • CP July 3, 2013 (10:34 am)

    Walking my dog this AM on Elmgrove St between 28th and 30th my friend and I found stolen mail.
    It was stolen from the 4800 block of 23rd Ave from differnt addreses.I will be sending everything back to the rightful owners including bank statements and utility bills.
    Getting locked and secure mailboxes is a good idea. Makes it harder to the creeps to get your stuff.

  • a July 3, 2013 (11:34 am)

    Good point Cp. Unfortunately mail theft is a problem but the best way to prevent this problem is a locking mailbox. If you do not want to buy a locking mailbox then make sure to empty your box everyday. You may think it’s just ads or ”junk mail” in there and that it can wait till tomorrow for you to get it. Fact is, it could be mail with valuable information on it and you do not want that information in the wrong hands. Those same crackheads that are breaking into cars and houses at night are also checking mailboxes. It’s also a courtesy to your mailman/woman to keep your mailbox clear so check it everyday.

  • Delridge Chick July 3, 2013 (11:51 am)

    Good reminder about keeping windows closed in this weather…I’m a little freaked out knowing I also live at Delridge/Holden, and had the thought last night that I shouldn’t leave our windows open over night in case some brazen soul decided to let themselves in to our apartment over night, but it was so hot that I talked myself into leaving them open. These reports will keep me from making that mistake again. So unfortunate…but glad everyone has been kept safe so far in these situations.

  • Soccer Mom July 3, 2013 (12:46 pm)

    Thanks for the info on the stranger following the teenage girl on Charlestown St. I will pass this on to everyone I know who has children. I hope this creep is arrested. We all must work to protect our children from harm.

  • jojorocker July 6, 2013 (11:13 pm)

    A couple of weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed there was a light on in my carport (my bedroom window looks out to it). I peeked through the window and noticed a young man sitting in my car. I started yelling, he turned and saw me then took off. At that point, my husband was already out the door chasing him but wasn’t able to catch the guy. I filed a report. We’re on 18th and juneau. The warm weather brings people out late; neighbors have had break ins too. I’ve been locking (and double checking) windows and doors to everything since. Don’t need another reminder!

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