West Seattle, Washington
10 Wednesday
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports tonight:
BURGLARY, GETAWAY, CHASE ON VIDEO: Above is a screenshot from video recorded at Brandon‘s house as burglars were making their getaway Wednesday morning in the 3700 block of SW Thistle. While he also shared a video link from the burglary itself, the getaway is most dramatic – here’s the clip (not embeddable): The getaway starts with a vehicle showing up about :40 in; then watch the upper right for a passing vehicle whose driver backed up at 1:02 and pursued the fleeing burglars. Brandon says, “We’re lucky to have had the lady in the van give chase and then come back to wait at our house for the police; thank you, kind stranger, we truly appreciate your bravery”
As for the break-in itself, Brandon describes:
At around 2:45 am on Wednesday morning, the burglars saw that we were not home and stole our mail. They came back at 7:30 am to check if we were home, and upon seeing that their knocks on the front door go unanswered, the four of them broke into our home. Fortunately, the alarm system did its job and the criminals were only in our home for around 3 minutes. … Based on the coordination and dress, it looks like they had this burglary planned out. The vehicle they used (red Toyota Sienna) was stolen. After they left our house, a brave neighbor gave chase. They sprayed a fire extinguisher out of the car to try to shake her and managed to get away. The vehicle was later found abandoned with items from other burglaries in it.
Here’s the burglary video: As Brandon describes it – “Guy comes up from basement to open door for an accomplice (0:04), another guy enters side door (0:34) then leaves out side door (1:03).” Two more screenshots:
Brandon says that none of the items from their burglary have been found. If you have any information, the SPD incident number is 2017-252976.
One more reader report:
TOOLS STOLEN FROM JOB SITE:
At approximately 8:30 PM on Tuesday night, 2 men between the ages of 25 to 35 years old, Asian or Pacific Islander, driving a late-model black Mercedes sedan, were seen coming out of the residential job site next-door to our house on 4th Ave., Southwest below Westcrest Park. My husband yelled at them and they ran with their hands full of things and jumped in the car and sped away. License plate begins with BC. Luckily they didn’t get too much because we don’t keep anything on the site. But, they stole a red Sawzall box, heavy duty Bosch construction site boombox/radio, and some other small items, and maybe other things we just haven’t noticed yet. Have you seen these guys?
They didn’t get the full license plate number, unfortunately.
7:24 PM: The Bubbleman is on – and so is West Seattle Summer Fest Eve! The streets closed a little over an hour ago for festival setup – and for a pre-festival party that’s become a fun locals’ night over the years. You’ll find outdoor seating at a variety of venues – as well as entertainment, also including Shabazz Palaces at Easy Street …
… and Big Band Blue outside West 5 …
plus your chance to see behind the scenes of setup for Summer Fest, which starts at 10 am tomorrow:
That’s one of the crews working north of Oregon, where you’ll find the Summer Fest main stage and beer garden all weekend long (plus a new band-merch tent). At California/Alaska, the Info Booth tent’s gone up – that’s where you’ll find us throughout the festival again this year (we’re a co-sponsor, too). And did we mention it’s West Seattle Art Walk night too?
10:35 PM: More photos added – first, from Bubbleman’s finale:
Next, a closer look at Shabazz Palaces @ Easy Street:
People-watching on Summer Fest Eve can be fun – in this case, birdwatching too:
That’s Michael with Tara on his shoulder. Meantime, the Kid Zone setup included a test of the pirate-ship ride (on SW Alaska between California and 44th):
And even before sunset, the main stage continued taking shape:
When you come to Summer Fest, if you visit the Info Booth at California/Alaska, say hi! We are there – with festival staffers and community volunteers – again this year. Official festival hours are 10 am-6 pm Friday and Saturday, 11 am-5 pm Sunday; on Friday and Saturday, the mainstage music and beer garden goes late into the night, and the food usually runs at least a few hours past vendor-closing time those first two nights too. For the Kids Zone – here is our report on ride hours and prices. See you at Summer Fest!
6:40 PM: Love to relax with a book and a glass of wine? Stop by Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) during tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk – on right now – and talk with Jessica Trouillaud about her business Words & Wine – which will set you up with both. Viscon Cellars is at 5910 California SW and open every Art Walk night until 8 pm – it’s our first stop tonight. Here’s the venue list, both for art and for food/drink specials along the route:
6:58 PM: We’re in The Junction now – where at least one Art Walk artist is in the Summer Fest Eve spirit:
Gwenevere Ferguson is showing her digital and acrylic art outside Merryweather Books, on the west side of the street between Alaska and Oregon. On the other side of California, same block, Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) is featuring Fritz Rud and his Ampliphones again this month:
Beautiful night to get out, not just for the art, but also for Summer Fest Eve.
8:46 PM: We also stopped by Virago Gallery (on SW Alaska next to Easy Street):
(“XOXO My love is very special” by Brianna McCarthy)
The exhibit “Matters of Inheritance” by Brianna McCarthy continues, and on August 5th, you can meet the artist, who Virago proprietor Tracy Cilona tells us is coming from Trinidad for the occasion. The 5-9 pm event also will include readings by writers responding to the exhibit.
(Like Virago, most of tonight’s Art Walk stops will continue showing their featured artist’s work through the coming month, so if you missed tonight – or didn’t make it to all the stops – you can check it out in the days and weeks to come.)
New at the crosswalk on the south side of 35th and Fauntleroy: Orange safety flags, courtesy of Pecos Pit BBQ (WSB sponsor), which has “adopted” the crosswalk.
Pecos Pit executive Jeannie Hammock says they paid for the flag basket and flags because it’s the best they could do for now – they asked SDOT to restripe the faded crosswalk but it has to wait until the Fauntleroy Boulevard project (and even then, improvements there were late additions to the plan) next year.
She notes that the unofficial “adoption” of the nearby area also includes “the installation/maintenance of landscaping in the ‘triangle’ at the entrance of the WS Bridge in order to beautify the entrance.” (That’s the area just north of the restaurant, which opened a little over a year ago.)
(WSB photo, June 5th, showing police and other emergency vehicles along Highway 509 south of West Seattle)
A second suspect is now charged in last month’s baseball-bat killing of 24-year-old Dillon Graham at an encampment off Highway 509 – and he’s someone we have reported on before.
We first reported on the death investigation June 5th; 43-year-old Aaron Rillera was arrested the same day and charged with second-degree murder on June 8th; 
46-year-old Hung M. Pham was arrested this past Monday and charged with second-degree murder today. Pham is alleged to have been the second man reported to have shown up with a baseball bat after a woman sought out Rillera, claiming Graham was trying to rob a friend of hers. Charging documents say Pham has a record of criminal violence, including domestic-violence assault and arson in a 2013 West Seattle case, as well as robbery. Checking the WSB archives, we found the photo you see at right, accompanying this 2013 report on the domestic-violence arson case on the county side of Roxbury, which was linked to an incident in the 9000 block of 16th SW. He was arrested days after that report, and after a plea bargain three months later, according to King County Superior Court online records, was sentenced to a little over two years in prison.
Back to the current murder case, documents say that it took a while to identify and arrest Pham because witnesses to the fatal attack on Graham identified him only as “Pete,” but a police officer who got word of the investigation helped his colleagues figure out that “Pete” was Hung M. Pham. He’ll be back in court to answer the murder charge in two weeks; prosecutors are asking that his bail be set at $2 million.
(July 2016 photo by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)
Last year the Duwamish Rowing Club made history with its first regatta on the Duwamish River, and this Saturday the club’s doing it again – the second annual Dieter Hotz Cup Regatta, 8 am-noon, from Duwamish Waterway Park [map] in South Park. Free community breakfast, too! We’re mentioning it today in case you hadn’t already seen it in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar. The Duwamish Rowing Club is the only rowing club in this area (SP, West Seattle, White Center, vicinity) and all are welcome to come watch as well as to find out more about the all-ages Learn to Row program that’s starting next month.
Ballots are arriving in the mail, so primary-election voting has begun. Five notes:
(2016 photo, shared by High Point Library)
BALLOT DROPBOX OPEN: As of today, the dropboxes around King County are open, 24 hours a day until 8 pm Tuesday, August 1st, the primary-election voting deadline, no postage required. Here’s the location list; in our area, the nearest ones at the High Point (35th SW/SW Raymond) and White Center (1409 SW 107th) libraries. (If you’re in unincorporated North Highline south of WC, one’s been added at the Boulevard Park library.)
SWSHS ON ‘ACCESS FOR ALL’: There’s only one ballot measure in our area – King County Proposition 1, “Sales Tax for Access to Cultural Programs.” This would raise the county sales tax one-tenth of one percent for seven years to “expand access to arts, science, and heritage programming …” The Southwest Seattle Historical Society announced this week that its board recently voted to officially endorse it – and explains why here.
COVERAGE OF LAST NIGHT’S ENDORSEMENT: Speaking of endorsements, we covered the exhaustive process last night that put this area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, on the record as supporting two candidates for mayor. (Our report includes many other notes, including an update from our area’s school-board director Leslie Harris.)
(Yes, really, 21 candidates. This is a photo of our just-received ballot)
CANDIDATES AT SUMMER FEST ON SATURDAY: Another reminder – 2 pm Saturday (July 15th) in Junction Plaza Park (42nd/Alaska), see up to 16 (as RSVP’d so far) of the 21 mayoral candidates in the Sustainable West Seattle-presented forum that we’re moderating. We’re going to do our best to keep it moving, so drop in even if you only have a few minutes.
CITY COUNCIL FORUM COMING UP: The ballot also asks you to pick two City Councilmembers – citywide Positions 8 and 9. No incumbent for Position 8 – there are eight contenders; the seven Position 9 candidates include incumbent Lorena González. If you want to wait to see some of them in person first, set aside the evening of July 25th, when the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council is planning a forum – more details soon.
(Tern at sunset – photographed by Matt Olson)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WADING POOLS AND SPRAYPARK: Open today are Lincoln Park wading pool and Highland Park spraypark, both 11 am-8 pm; Hiawatha wading pool, noon-6:30 pm; EC Hughes wading pool, noon-7 pm. (Find addresses here)
CONSTRUCTION WORKER STORY TIME: 11:30 am at High Point Library, it’s a special story time – construction workers from a nearby site will talk with kids about their work. You can walk over to the site afterward and see what’s going on – including a crane! (35th/Raymond)
DRAWING AND WINE: 4-6 pm at the Log House Museum‘s courtyard, stop by and draw while taking inspiration from the garden and sipping wine. Free, donations accepted. (61st SW/SW Stevens)
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK: 5 pm start – see the map/venue list in our preview published last night, and see artist previews here. One big WSAW event: At Viscon Cellars (5910 California SW; WSB sponsor), check out the team of winemaker Ben Viscon, painter Lindsay Peyton, and books/wine curator Jessica Trouillaud.
WEST SEATTLE SUMMER FEST EVE: 6 pm, the streets close for festival setup (California between Genesee and Edmunds, Alaska between 42nd and 44th), and special entertainment, including Bubbleman at California/Alaska at 7 pm; Big Band Blue outside West 5, 7-9 pm; and Shabazz Palaces in-store at Easy Street Records, 7 pm. All free. Come wander around and see what else is going on!
OPEN MIC: At C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), “open mic for musicians and singers of all genres of music” – amateurs, professionals, everyone! 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
LOTS MORE … on our complete-calendar page!
(WSB file photo)
One week from Saturday, it’s the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by the Rotary Club of West Seattle, which also wants to remind you that it’ll be preceded again this year in The Junction by the West Seattle Kiddie Parade. All kids are invited to participate – just show up!:
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017
Kiddie Parade begins at 11 AM
Register at the Rotary of West Seattle table at the corner of SW California and Genesee beginning at 9:45 AM.
Parade route – south down SW California from corner of Genesee to Edmunds.
Bring your bikes and wagons; parents bring your strollers. Free balloons!
The Grand Parade itself – which we’ll be previewing soon too – starts at that same time, 11 am July 22nd, but it gets going much further north, California/Lander. So if you want to see the Kiddie Parade *and* the Grand Parade, be sure you pick a viewing spot on California in The Junction.
First they won the district championship, and now they’ll play for the state championship! Thanks to Darrell Glover for the update:
The West Seattle Little League 10/11-year-old All Stars have gone undefeated at the State Tournament in Vancouver thus far.
After a walk-off nailbiter against Kirkland yesterday, they advance to the State Championship game Saturday morning at 10 am.
Score of the game against Kirkland was 6-5; they have won 4 straight games against the best teams in the State, a special bunch of kids.
GO WESTSIDE !!!!
(HERE’S THE REVAMPED SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
7:29 AM: Good morning! No traffic/transit trouble reported in/from West Seattle so far this morning. Remember that tonight through Sunday night, festival closures/reroutes are in effect in The Junction
WEST SEATTLE SUMMER FEST: Starting at 6 pm tonight, continuing until late Sunday night, California SW in The Junction is closed to vehicles between Edmunds and Genesee (Oregon stays open as a west-east through route) for the year’s West Seattle Summer Fest. For bus reroutes, check this page of the Metro website.
| 10 COMMENTS