WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Robberies, mail theft, warrant arrest

Three reports spanning four incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch:

RELATED ROBBERIES: Police are investigating two related robberies early Wednesday. First, around 3 am, a man was having car trouble in the 9400 block of 30th SW when he was robbed. According to the SPD summary:

The victim saw a white vehicle drive slowly past him and make a U turn. The victim thought the inhabitants were going to assist him with his vehicle. Instead, the two suspects in the white vehicle exited and went to their car trunk. The suspects pulled out two handguns and pointed the firearms at the victim making threats. The suspects demanded the victim’s wallet, keys, and cellphone. The suspects demanded the victim’s cell phone PIN. The victim complied with all the suspects’ demands, and the suspects left on SW Roxbury St. Officers recovered a rifle round on the ground at the scene, so the suspects possibly have a rifle inside their vehicle.

Half an hour later, the robbery victim’s roommate got texts from the stolen cell phone saying, the report says, “he needed to be picked up because his vehicle isn’t working.” He parked in the 3400 block of SW Graham St when, the report continues, two people – possibly the same as the ones who’d robbed his roommate – pulled up in a white vehicle and pointed handguns at him, demanding his cellphone, wallet, and keys. He handed over the first two items but not the keys – and then ran. The robbers chased him for a bit, then gave up. But, the report says, “While the victim was trying to call 911, the suspects poured an unknown white powder inside his vehicle. Seattle Fire responded to check the unknown substance.” The report doesn’t say what it turned out to be, nor does it describe the robbers.

MAIL THEFT: Thanks to Matthew on Puget Ridge for the tip on this, after a neighborhood-group post reporting a letter carrier had been robbed. We talked today with a U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesperson, who said the incident earlier this week was not a robbery – no force was used – but did confirm that some mail was stolen from a carrier’s truck. She said the USPS would be notifying the customers whose mail was taken,

WARRANT SUSPECT ARRESTED: Back to SPD summaries – just before midnight last night, an officer made a traffic stop in the 4100 block of SW Edmunds; the report says the officer “recognized the front seat passenger as a felony (state Corrections Department) warrant suspect and officers placed him under arrest.” The car’s driver, meantime, told police he had a gun in the back seat: “Officers could not determine ownership of the gun as the driver had no paperwork and the gun returned ‘no record.’ It was placed into evidence.” The passenger, wanted in an assault case, was booked into jail,

11 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Robberies, mail theft, warrant arrest"

  • StopCuttingDownTrees December 2, 2021 (3:36 pm)

    I used to live right at the 9400 block of 30th SW where the first robbery occurred and it’s fairly dense with all the houses close to the sidewalks. It’s odd that the victim didn’t yell for help, FIRE!!!, etc, while being robbed. We all used to poke our heads outside for every little unusual noise or circumstance around there.

  • Eric1 December 2, 2021 (5:16 pm)

    The robbery sounds fishy. If you stole my phone, how would you know who is my roommate?  Not like I ever had a contact named “roommate”.  You would have to text half my contact list to get a response at 3AM. And you would get far more expletive laden responses than positive ones. Or maybe that is just me?

    • Rhonda December 2, 2021 (7:31 pm)

      No, it’s not just you. I was thinking the same thing. Logically, they would’ve had to text multiple people on the list to get the roommate and multiple people would’ve shown up. I hope SPD is investigating this beyond just a robbery.

    • Kalo December 2, 2021 (8:37 pm)

      Maybe the roomie was listed as the emergency contact on his phone?

      • Chuck Jacobs December 3, 2021 (12:10 pm)

        Maybe they contacted the most frequently texted contact figuring they’d be most likely to respond to a call for help. 

    • JD December 3, 2021 (11:12 pm)

      Fishy? Seems like a big hassle to get your cell phone replaced.  I don’t see where it says they knew they were contacting his roommate. I do see they had his PIN , and didn’t contact the roommate for a half hour. To me that’s a long time to piece together who he lived with or contacted the most. 

  • East Coast Cynic December 2, 2021 (6:51 pm)

    Imagine if we had a few more cops driving a beat in West Seattle.  They might have been able to deter that poor guy with the car trouble getting robbed. Good job SPD on the felony warrant suspect.

    • AlkiResident December 3, 2021 (8:42 am)

      Agreed! We can “Thank” Lisa Herbold our WS councilperson, and Theresa Mosqueda for cutting our police force’s funding by $38 Million in 2021, and a further cut just a week ago. They are directly responsible for our lack of police! 

  • eric December 2, 2021 (6:56 pm)

    Any description of the two scumbags?

  • bolo December 2, 2021 (10:41 pm)

    I just want to know what trick the second roommate used to outrun the handguns.

    • momosmom December 3, 2021 (7:34 am)

      Fear

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