WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Coffee-shop holdup

He ordered coffee and a pastry … and then money.

That’s what police say happened when the Delridge Uptown Espresso was robbed last night around 6:30. After a reader tip, we just checked with SPD media relations to get details from the report. About 20 people were in the shop at the time; the report says the robber waited in line to get to the counter, ordered coffee and pastry; as the barista was putting the pastry in a bag, he asked for a bigger bag, and as that was handed to him, he told the barista to put the register money in the bag. His right hand was in his hoodie pocket, according to the report, and he said, “I have a gun – don’t make me use it.” Money was added to the bag; he walked out quickly, and vanished. Here’s the description: A white man around 30 years old, 6′ tall, “average build,” light facial hair, dark hoodie, dark jeans. Police searched the area but didn’t find the robber.

20 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Coffee-shop holdup"

  • Rick December 22, 2016 (11:22 am)

    “Just another day”.

    • WSB December 22, 2016 (11:45 am)

      No, actually, it is NOT just another day. Armed robberies are not common and don’t happen here daily, not even weekly.

  • waikikigirl December 22, 2016 (11:53 am)

    How scary for the Barista,  I hope she/he is doing OK today.  And it’s too bad that with all those people in the shop that they couldn’t have tackled the guy! But it is better to be safe than sorry not knowing if he really had a gun or not. 

  • Jeff December 22, 2016 (11:56 am)

    Kinda quick on the trigger there, eh WSB?

    Seems like you are making an assumption on the OPs statement, which is general and really generic.

    I can’t speak for the OP, but can say, just another day of crime in our backyards that for many seems too close to home.

    • WSB December 22, 2016 (12:27 pm)

      Absolutely, crime in general is too common and too close to home. That’s why we spend a ton of time and space on it here, with daily updates. And we have been victims too. But I also am dedicated to accuracy and clarity and that’s why I responded to a suggestion that a violent crime like this is common here – it’s not. Would ultimately have been better if I had included that in the original story, such as a mention of the most recent West Seattle armed robbery preceding this. Looking into the SPD files, there was a holdup at the 15th/Roxbury Wells Fargo ATM last Sunday afternoon (December 18th); prior to that, the last robbery report in West Seattle was the evening of December 9th, and it was a case of “shoplift turned violent” – which escalates the classification to “robbery” – at Jefferson Square Safeway. – TR

  • Alki Resident December 22, 2016 (12:35 pm)

    The fact that this guy did this dangerous hold up with 20 people in the shop blows my mind. So much could’ve gone wrong here. Just terrifying.

  • sam-c December 22, 2016 (12:40 pm)

    last night? like around what time?

    6:30? 9:30?

    horrible crime, no matter the time, but was curious.

    All the people that work there are great (not that I go often); really hope they are not traumatized.      

    • WSB December 22, 2016 (12:46 pm)

      Sorry, I was certain I included the time – I even remember typing “just after 6:30,” because I specifically asked the time in my conversation with SPD, as the Tweets by Beat timestamps are usually a few hours AFTER the crime, due to the way the automation works – but apparently edited it out. The 911 call came in at 6:36 pm. Adding above, too. – TR

  • Chuck December 22, 2016 (12:50 pm)

    Rusty Griswold:
    Is that a real gun, Mom?

    Ellen Griswold:
    I don’t know, Rusty, but when this is all over, your father… may be going away for a little while.

    Sorry. Just thought we might all use a little bit of timely National Lampoon humor.  I’m very glad no one was hurt. I honestly suspect this moron might have been bluffing, but the staff did the right thing. Better safe than sorry.

  • Evil twin December 22, 2016 (12:55 pm)

    So 1.439762148 times per week in WS? Still too much for me.

    • WSB December 22, 2016 (1:03 pm)

      Even 1 per year or 1 per decade or 1 per century is too much of any kind of crime. But no, that’s not the local robbery average. I’m sorry, I don’t have time to datacrunch further, have to head out on something else. The SPD website is full of stats, for anyone who does have time to datacrunch. What I did was look at the crime reports list and sort for “robbery” and look for the West Seattle addresses. You have to have an account. Search page is http://web1.seattle.gov/police/records/PoliceReports/Search.aspx … but there are lots of other datasets out there too. – TR

  • erm December 22, 2016 (2:07 pm)

    Armed robberies are the pits!  Sounds like the barista did everything right though.

     

    Any idea what the police activity in the junction is about right now? 

  • Kathleen December 22, 2016 (2:10 pm)

    Wow, this hits really close to home. We often walk there at that time to play games with our kids. How awful!

  • seattle_sunburn December 22, 2016 (2:39 pm)

    Thanks, WSB, for your daily reporting, research, and accuracy. You are an enormous asset to our community.

  • Craig December 22, 2016 (3:59 pm)

    Interesting data on perception of crime vs reality. 

    http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/

  • Eddie December 22, 2016 (6:19 pm)

    Craig, interesting graphs. Would be interesting to add a third day point, looking at “availability of hyperlocal news reporting” (from the internet in General and sites like WSB in particular).

    I contend that crime in General is down some from the past, while visibility of crime is way, way, way up due to the nature of modern reporting and communications.

    • ChannelingLewisBlack December 22, 2016 (7:45 pm)

      Perhaps, but we should be using technology to eliminate crimes; I find every car prowl and package theft  – much less an armed robbery – as one too many.   Seattle deserves better and accepting it as a declining trend is not enough.

  • Eric1 December 22, 2016 (9:50 pm)

    There are 3 kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics…  

    .

    Note Pew shows the trend for saying yes to the question “there is more crime”.  Did they specify what kind of crime is perceived to be increasing?  Were they asking about crime in the city, state or nationally? There is no framework to the question.  Most people will say general crime is up because it was always better “before” than it is now as memories fade. The Pew Research graph also cherry-picked the statistic of violent crime. Did property crime follow the same pattern? 

    .

    By cherry-picking data I mean that, the 1990’s were particularly violent with gang warfare in many cities. So any comparison to violent crime after the 1990’s looks relatively great.  By using the same pair of graphs, violent crime and the perception hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years. Just cover up the years 1993 to 2003 and the graphs look VERY different.   Somebody has an ax to grind here and isn’t just me about cherry picked statistics.

  • Tamsen Spengler December 23, 2016 (11:07 am)

    Thanks to the barista for doing everything right. Hope she/he is ok. Scary to think I’m sometimes there at that time. I hate the thought that this is something we have to worry about when we’re “out there”! I have a sister who won’t go to a shopping mall anymore.  Sad.,

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