WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Halloween shooter sought; catalytic-converter thieves’ car; keepsakes stolen in storage break-in

Three reader reports:

HALLOWEEN NIGHT GUNFIRE: This happened on 34th SW in Sunrise Heights and the victim’s hoping you recognize the shooter:

Halloween night we had an incredibly scary situation take place in front of our home in West Seattle. We need the help of West Seattle residents identifying the culprit.

We were cleaning up from a small gathering we had in our front yard for neighbors and trick and treaters. At around 11 PM, one neighbor and I during the cleanup witnessed a prowler in his car. We confronted the culprit, who exited the car and walked away from us while my neighbor dialed 911. The culprit was incredibly casual and slowly made his way to 35th Avenue SW as we followed him while talking to the 911 responder. The culprit turned up 35th Avenue SW and eventually we turned around to head back to our homes when he was out of sight. We then heard a bang that we assumed was a firework.

An hour later, I was in our backyard locking up when I heard footsteps again. I looked over our gate and saw the same culprit this time by my vehicles. I began yelling at him in an effort to get him away from the cars and out of our neighborhood when I shockingly realized he had a gun in his hand. My wife heard the yelling and opened our door thinking I was in trouble. As soon as she opened the door — he fired at her twice thankfully missing her but very close to where she was standing.

It was a scary situation and hard to take in. We really questioned for a while whether the gun was real but the Police did confirm it was. There are bullets lodged into our house and we found an unused bullet and shell casing outside of our house.

The Police responded quickly after the shooting and also came the next day to take statements and gather additional evidence.

What’s crazy about the whole experience is how casual the shooter was. He never seemed in a hurry. He also never said a thing.

Thankfully our neighbor caught him on video just before I encountered him a second time that night when he entered the neighbor’s carport in the alley in an effort to find items to steal.

We need help identifying the shooter — please contact the Police Department and reference this incident number (2021-290133) if they know anything additional about what happened that night or can identify the shooter or can offer anything to assist in his arrest. He’s incredibly callous and the police and we are worried it could happen again.

One of our neighbors who saw the video recognized him as a shoplifter she saw at the Westwood Rite Aid in September. She also believes he was a frequent shoplifter based on the reaction he received from the Rite Aid manager.

The first incident with the shooter was around 11 PM. The second incident when he fired at my wife took place around midnight. And then later that night we heard a shot again at about 1:30 AM/2:00 AM.

ANOTHER CATALYTIC-CONVERTER THEFT: Kyre‘s Toyota Highlander hybrid was hit Tuesday;

I would like to report a picture of the car that carried the thieves who stole my catalytic converter in the middle of the day, at a brazen 10 min to noon, on a well=traveled street near Fairmount Park Elementary.

People can keep an eye out so it won’t happen to them. Red Audi, blacked out windows, black license plate. Took 3 minutes!

STORAGE BREAK-IN, KEEPSAKES STOLEN: From Samir:

I just learned that someone was able to break into the storage unit of my (Harbor Avenue) apartment and steal my backpack full of my gear. While the gear can be replaced, I was wondering if you could put out a notice for Philmont bag tags that were attached to the bag.

I got these tags when I was 16 with the Boy Scouts. There will be 2 blue ones and 1 yellow one (2 belonging to me, 1 belonging to my dad). The backpack itself was a blue backpack with orange straps. If the tags are still on the bag they would be attacked to the outside by a carabiner.

The backpack contained items including a sleeping bag and pad, an inflatable pillow, and a water filter.

28 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Halloween shooter sought; catalytic-converter thieves' car; keepsakes stolen in storage break-in"

  • Gatewood resident November 3, 2021 (3:09 pm)

    What a menace. Here’s hoping they catch this guy and he gets convicted for attempted murder.

  • Pleasenotmenext November 3, 2021 (3:22 pm)

    This is the 3rd catalytic converter theft with this red Audi (I’m sure there are many more–I’ve just seen this same car now three times and one of the thefts was one our block). People should keep their eye out for this car–red Audi, blacked out license plate, tinted windows. Be a presence on your block if it’s rolling by. 

    • Sasquatch November 3, 2021 (6:08 pm)

      Respectfully, being a presence  could get you shot at – as indicated in the story above. I would advise you to be very careful if you see that red Audi and call the cops. Unfortunately because of budget cuts they may not respond but they would rather you call them then confront somebody yourself.

    • MM November 4, 2021 (9:36 am)

      I just want to clarify that there’s no connection between the Halloween shooter and the catalytic converter thefts.  The Halloween shooter was looking to steal anything when he shot at the individual who confronted him.  He is dangerous so if you recognize the photo or video of the shooter — contact the Police immediately.

      • Lindsey November 17, 2021 (6:06 pm)

        Oh I think they absolutely are related and I have good reason to think so. Calling right now. 

  • Concerned Neighbor November 3, 2021 (4:18 pm)

      I’d like to know what these low-life’s do with these catalytic-converters?  There are so many  thefts of  them now, it’s ridiculous.  Perhaps the police should/could be looking for where these thieves take   these to sell them.  And, speaking of that, what does the person who buys them do with them?  I’m   sure it doesn’t begin and end with the thievery.

    • zark00 November 3, 2021 (5:06 pm)

      Cat converters have a small amount of precious metals – platinum, palladium and rhodium – rhodium is worth $11,000 an ounce, gold is around $1800 an ounce by comparison. Price for those metals is WAY up right now, so where 3 years ago you could get $100 for a used cat converter, scrappers will pay up to $1,000 for one these days,  depending on the source. The unscrupulous junk yards pay less when they know/suspect it stolen. Weirdly most cat converters sold to scrappers are actually still from legit sources. People scrapping cars, doing rebuilds on older cars, etc.  When a car gets totaled in an accident it’s usually sold to a junk yard, that’s where a lot of the cat converters come from.  Most junk yards will have a big ol box of em, all 100% legit and not stolen.So really it’s not a very high dollar crime, it would take a ton of work to track the source of every cat converter sold to scrappers, and even if you could do that there’s no law against a scrapper buying a used cat converter and they don’t have to legitimize the source like they would for say a giant roll of copper wire. Basically, the crime is just too small to warrant the manpower it would take to stop it. Even insurance companies, who pay for the replacements most of the time, recommend a cat converter shield over police cracking the cat converter ring – they know it’s an impossible task and just not worth the effort. There is nothing in the converter itself that would ID it as stolen. A legit one and stolen one look exactly the same. No serial numbers to track, nothing really like that they can use.The main ‘hit’ to an individual is inconvenience. It’s almost always covered by insurance, you can drive without one without any damage to the vehicle at all, and they’re fairly easy to replace. So it’s really treated more like vandalism than a property theft crime. 

      • Rick November 3, 2021 (7:55 pm)

        And I wasted all that money on college.

      • carole November 3, 2021 (8:39 pm)

        Auto manufacturers should include a car’s VIN or a serial # on the converter at the factory.  Will facilitate tracking.  Or they could put the shield on during assembly. Yes, it will add to the sticker price but better a few hundred at purchase than thousands (and the inconvenience) post theft.

    • bill November 3, 2021 (5:12 pm)

      Converters are broken up for the valuable rare metals inside that clean up a car’s exhaust. The recyclers that accept converters no-questions-asked enable this criminal industry. Much more stringent regulation is needed. Same for metal recyclers in general who buy copper wire from anyone who drags it in. City Light can’t keep up with wire thieves in some out of the way places where the street lights never seem to work.

    • bolo November 3, 2021 (5:22 pm)

      It’s more than a simply local problem. It’s a worldwide problem fueled by a current scarcity of the magic ingredient in the catalytic converter– Rhodium, a rare metal 15-30x the price of gold.
      Great incentive for a lowlife thief to saw out your CC for an easy $200.

      Solution? Trade your fossil fuel car for an electric one. Should have done it yesterday.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/catalytic-converter-theft-south-africa-rhodium/2021/03/03/dc288192-777d-11eb-9489-8f7dacd51e75_story.html

    • Westwood November 3, 2021 (5:46 pm)

      Well…you answered your first question yourself. They sell them, because the precious metals inside are quite valuable. 

  • Deb November 3, 2021 (4:52 pm)

    ? RE: c-converter thefts & red Audi- is it a 2-door or a 4-door sedan? Looks like the gas cap is missing from right rear? 

  • G-Man November 3, 2021 (6:56 pm)

    Same Audi reported on on WSB yesterday in this video:https://youtu.be/jW0Fe1IJyFI

  • WS neighbor November 3, 2021 (8:18 pm)

    The Halloween shooter story is super scary. Shoo-ing off a prowler should not result in shots fired at people! Please keep a look out for this guy. 

  • wsresident November 3, 2021 (8:24 pm)

    Where is sunrise heights?

  • Greg November 4, 2021 (8:40 am)

    I don’t get how these blacked out plates are legal.  I’ve been right behind a few cars with dark tinted glass over the plates and they were totally unreadable.  

    • Jort November 6, 2021 (6:51 am)

      Your neighbors are doing this to avoid being held accountable for illegal lower Spokane st. bridge crossings. They think they have a right to use the bridge, regardless of the law. These are your neighbors. They think they’re smarter and better than you.

  • SODO neighbor November 4, 2021 (11:49 am)

    I think that same red audi was in SODO last year and ripped of my fiance’s tools from his box truck he had parked in our loading dock in my building.  One of our neighbors had a go-pro doing surveillance to watch over our parking lot and on the footage a similar car broke into the truck.  Couldn’t make out the plates because the camera was too high up. 

  • Renee November 4, 2021 (12:21 pm)

    I have video of the shooter prowling my car as well. I sent it to the detectives. I heard the gunshots but didn’t realize it was same guy. I saw this man walking down the alley a few days before Halloween. I hope I see him again so I can call the police and get him arrested. I had the same thought, that he was so casual while he was prowling. Glad no one was hurt. I love our community – we look out for each other.

  • Drew Cunningham November 5, 2021 (3:28 am)

    Oh man, I still have my Philmont tags on my backpack from when my troop went in 2004. So sorry to hear that these were stolen. Hope that somehow they can find their way back. Those are sentimental!

  • Tyr1001 November 5, 2021 (6:57 am)

    What an absolute bummer about the Philmont tags. that was a fantastic experience, highlight of my scouting days. hopefully you find them

  • perlita November 5, 2021 (7:58 am)

    Dear @westseattleblog, we have an active shooter AT LARGE in West Seattle. Why is this story packaged like traffic news? I am not sure your readers understand the seriousness of this, they are commenting about car theft. Please consider running another stand-alone story with a clear CTA. 

    • sam-c November 5, 2021 (10:00 am)

      Yes, the story is incredibly disturbing.  Being shot at, by a car prowler, while standing in your own front door, sounds terrifying.  I hope that the photos and story shared here lead to more info being shared with police, and this person’s arrest.    

    • AM November 5, 2021 (1:59 pm)

      I 100% agree. An active shooter at large in our community and there are more comments about CC theft. I’m seriously bothered by this. I too believe this story deserves more attention. The mom in this story was shot at!!! There were kids in the home. They are so incredibly lucky that no one was hurt or killed. WSB please give this the attention it deserves, this needs its own headline, he needs to be caught!  That picture and video needs more air time! 

  • this could be you November 5, 2021 (9:39 am)

    This should be priority 0 for law enforcement right now. Not sure why he isn’t caught yet. Mobile phone location triangulation is super basic, just filter out residents and the known visitors of the Halloween event.

  • Concerned Resident November 5, 2021 (12:06 pm)

    I’ve seen a red Audi just like this one closer to the beginning of the year enter our dead end neighborhood on multiple days, several times a day for about a week or so. Come to find out they stripped a white Audi just like this red one and left it on four cement blocks just up the street from us. Along with this red Audi there were several nice/newer trucks like a Toyota Raptor that would come around the same time as the Audi that we did not recognize in the neighborhood. This was in Burien, in a neighborhood located behind Fred Meyer. Sick of these guys and hope that karma catches up to them sooner than later. Praying no one gets hurt until then. 

Sorry, comment time is over.