West Seattle Crime Watch: Bereaved family hit by burglary; Junction gunfire followup

| Crime | West Seattle news

GRIEF COMPOUNDED BY CRIME: As if dealing with the death of a loved one wasn’t tough enough, a reader’s family is also dealing with a burglary:

Our mom passed away (last week) and her home was broke into sometime (between Saturday night and Sunday night).

I’ve gone there every day since she died. She had a lot of meds in her house, I’m thinking that’s what they were after, which makes us think whoever did this knows our story. Police came, and were wonderful. They think (the burglar[s]) may have been scared off. Nothing was taken.

The reader just wants people in the area to be aware – this happened in the general Schmitz Park vicinity. P.S. Seems also worth noting that next Saturday is the twice-yearly Drug Takeback Day, 10 am-2 pm April 30th. If for any reason you have no-longer-needed medication, drop it off at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster) front desk, no questions asked.

JUNCTION GUNFIRE FOLLOWUP: Though the incident still isn’t in the publicly accessible online system, we finally got SPD confirmation that gunfire evidence WAS found in the investigation of Sunday morning’s incident in The Junction. We just talked to precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith and he said a report in the SPD system shows that officers recovered three 40-caliber casings in the street in the 4500 block of 42nd SW and noted a “possible bullet hole found on a nearby towing sign.” No one was hurt and no other damage was located, according to the internal report; no suspects were found or arrested, but two vehicles described only as silver and “dark” were seen leaving the area right afterward. Why this information wasn’t in the report checked by the officer with whom we spoke at the precinct yesterday afternoon, he didn’t know. (The incident number, 16-141399, does not currently show anywhere in the publicly accessible system.)

REMINDER – NEXT CRIME PREVENTION/SAFETY MEETING … is tomorrow night’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting, focusing on car theft and car prowling. 6:30 pm at the precinct – full preview on the WSBWCN website.

datamuse April 25, 2016 (7:23 pm)

A house on my block was broken into shortly after the owner died. Police told our neighbors that some burglars watch the obituaries to select their targets. Despicable.

wetone April 25, 2016 (8:50 pm)

Thought mayor and SPD were working on being more transparent not less. Been seeing a few things lately not showing up on record. Guess it’s easier for the mayor to say we have no issues if there’s no incidents.

Trickycoolj April 25, 2016 (11:00 pm)

Good reminder to not post addresses or memorial service times in public obits and make sure to have a house sitter when the family is away. Disgusting that it even comes to that, but it is what it is. We were very careful when my grandma passed, lots of long lost relatives tend to come out of the woodwork.

Jon April 26, 2016 (8:38 am)

Yeah, it’s true that people track the obituaries to pick targets. That’s been a thing since forever. And knowing that someone is probably thinking about breaking in, I would be extra cautious, especially if house-sitting.

Erithan April 26, 2016 (9:46 am)

If it wasn’t noted I think the “dark” car was probably the red one I saw peel off with a silver car not long before shots, and heard them around still (seemingly circling almost) after they left lot until after shots.

Erithan April 26, 2016 (9:48 am)

Very sad to hear about bugerlery, this is not my west seattle anymore, not the one I grew up in I should say=( sorry for double post, hard to reply via phones computer.

Sorry, comment time is over.