WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: 3 cases

| Crime | West Seattle news

SHOPLIFT-TURNED-ROBBERY: This happened just before 9:30 Tuesday night. Here’s how the police summary tells the story:

Officers and Westwood Village Emphasis Units responded to the Ross Dress for Less at Westwood Village for a report of an armed robbery. Loss Prevention Officers reported they had attempted to contact a suspected shoplifter who had gathered 300-400 dollars-worth of apparel. This suspect began to leave through the “employees only” area that led to an emergency exit. LPOs contacted him, at which time he pulled a handgun and pointed it at them, telling them to “back off,” which allowed him to run from the business, get into his vehicle and flee the area. An area check was negative.

Two recent case filings from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office:

BUS ASSAULTS: These charges are from an incident this past May, in which police responded to a report of someone using a cane to hit multiple people aboard a Metro bus near Westwood Village. 58-year-old Hazem Abdulhadi is charged with two counts of assault, one third-degree and one fourth-degree, for hitting a 17-year-old girl in the abdomen as she was boarding the bus and then hitting a 69-year-old Metro supervisor in the arm after he arrived to try to help before transit deputies got there. The charging documents say Abdulhadi’s attacks were recorded on security video and were unprovoked. He was arrested and spent 24 hours and in jail; charges were filed four and a half months later.

HIT-AND-RUN: This stems back to an incident in December 2020. Prosecutors say 37-year-old Carl D. Lee was driving a stolen SUV, and did not have a valid driver license, when he hit a 36-year-old man crossing the street at 32nd/Raymond early on a Sunday morning. The victim’s injuries included getting several teeth knocked out. Police found the damaged car one block away about a day and a half later. After impounding the vehicle, a search yielded a clue to who had been driving it – Lee’s documents from a recent Harborview Medical Center discharge. The documents charging Lee with one count of felony hit and run do not fully explain the lag in the case – the police detective’s report is dated January of this year; the charges were filed in late September. He is not currently in custody, according to the King County jail register.

East Coast Cynic October 6, 2022 (2:20 pm)

If the SPD can spare the manpower, WWV should get 24/7 surveillance from the police so that when armed robbery and shoplifting happens, they can better get to the criminals, or stand a fighting chance of getting to them. Police van in the mall?

WS4life October 6, 2022 (3:29 pm)

I think that would help quite a bit.
Auntie October 6, 2022 (6:34 pm)

Just wondering what those “video robots” with the blinking blue lights are for in the parking lot. They don’t seem to do much – not even catch a license plate of a fleeing suspect. So, why are they even there? Maybe just to make shoppers feel like management is doing something, when, in fact, they are not.
Donna October 7, 2022 (8:01 am)

I never shop at WWV anymore because it is just creepy!

Ralpie October 6, 2022 (3:07 pm)

Comment for the hit and run. Over the last year or so my family and I have noticed cars speeding and cutting it very close when we cross a street or walk across a business driveway. Once day they almost ran over our dog who was trailing a little behind in a crosswalk. Reminder to all to have a little more patience. These are people in your community walking around West Seattle. Treat them like your neighbors because they are!

tim October 6, 2022 (4:45 pm)

I was in Burien Ross 3 days ago and saw a well dressed couple fill their bags and walk out. Beepers going off. Then they got in their nice 50k truck and drove off. They didn’t point any guns like the above dirt bag, but who knows. Burien cops are pretty quick, I shoulda called it in I guess, but I think I was dumbfounded at the gall. Hope the workers are ok.

Sunny.206 October 6, 2022 (6:25 pm)

Seems like this is happening all over not just WWV, don’t seem fair to one and not the rest. What everyone think about our justice system seems to be who people are voting for.

1994 October 6, 2022 (9:51 pm)

What I am curious about the Ross armed robber is did he make off with the $300-400 of merchandise after ” he pulled a handgun and pointed it at them, telling them to “back off,” which allowed him to run from the business, get into his vehicle and flee the area.” ? Or did he have to drop the merch to pull out the gun and get away? I hope he had to drop it. What a loser.

PLK October 6, 2022 (11:54 pm)

WWV used to be a fun place to go with cool stores. Reading about armed shoplifters is really depressing and makes one not want to shop there. I wonder if someday it will be flattened in the middle in favor of more condos with retail space on the ground floor?

anonyme October 7, 2022 (6:47 am)

Another type of theft that has seen a huge increase is credit card fraud. I’ve just been hit for the second time in 3 years, despite an almost paranoid level of caution. In most cases, the fraud was allowed to occur because employees/businesses let the criminal read credit card numbers off of a list without ID or confirmation of any kind. They don’t care, as it is the financial institution that takes the hit, not the business. I only found out recently that if the charge goes through, the business is off the hook. Someone does pay – you and I, in the form of increased costs, fees, and interest. It seems like dishonesty and criminality have become mainstream characteristics of American citizens.