WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Graffiti-vandalism ‘rampage’

6:58 PM: We’ve received multiple reports of a wave of graffiti vandalism overnight on the north end of The Junction, on both residential and business buildings.. This report and the photos are from Corey; our policy is to generally not show tagging in full, so we’ve cropped the photos to show just part of the damage. Corey writes:

Some punk went on an absolute graffiti rampage and tagged nearly every building north of the Junction. He got our building too.

Fortunately, the graffiti was on the glass, opposed to the brick like some of our neighbors. I cleaned the graffiti off the glass immediately since I cannot stand to look at this. I wonder if there is something we could collectively do as West Seattle residents to keep an eye out for this activity and call 911 if we see it.

Yes, police DO respond to vandalism-in-progress calls, depending on what else they’re dealing with. Even if you don’t catch it in progress, report it – and after it’s been photographed, remove it as soon as you can, as that’s considered an effective way to dissuade the vandal(s).

9:23 PM: This video shows some of the vandalism – one person etching glass on a building at California/Genesee while another spray-paints:

59 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Graffiti-vandalism 'rampage'"

  • Brayton May 29, 2023 (7:20 pm)

    I really don’t get it. What drives people to make graffiti? Are they taking pride in trashing their community? Is it some twisted badge of honor among those with nothing better to do with their lives? 

    • Alki resident May 29, 2023 (8:52 pm)

      Braylon they aren’t our community members. They come here on city buses, hang around long enough to tag their territory and move on. 

      • aa May 29, 2023 (10:58 pm)

        Would Alki Resident care to share their source of information that says graffiti artists come into West Seattle on buses just to tag buildings and then move on? Or maybe it’s easier to think of this damage as being done by outsiders rather than face the fact that West Seattle has community members who are also criminals. 

        • Alki resident May 30, 2023 (7:45 am)

          Aa for one thing these aren’t graffiti artists, a lot of them are of different gangs marking their territory. Do you think the ones tagging up and down 1-5 live just a house away from where they’re tagging? We travel up and down the 1-5 corridor weekly and see the same tagging 50-60 miles  away. What does that tell you?

          • Mando#2 May 30, 2023 (4:27 pm)

            Sound about right.  Just gotta open your eyes 

        • 937 May 30, 2023 (8:12 am)

          aa – I’ve read “Alki resident’s” veiled racisim for a while now. It needs to be called out.

          They have no source for their information. The graffiti artists are not part of THEIR “community”. White upper class liberals with signs in their yard declaring how progressive they are.

          • Mike May 30, 2023 (12:17 pm)

            Well, this was tagging on private property and the suspects are white and younger adults or older kids.  There’s a possibility these people live around here, there’s a chance they don’t live around here.  I’d prefer they’d be caught, charged and required to clean up every bit of damage on their own dime.

          • Alki resident May 30, 2023 (2:35 pm)

            937 there are quite a few Alki residents that comment on here. But not sure how you got racism from my comment. The majority of taggers  I’ve seen are white but again my knowledge of taggers, they don’t live in the area they are tagging. Not sure what bent you out of shape. 

          • 937 June 1, 2023 (7:32 am)

            Alki – you know what you said.

            WE know what you meant.

            Do better.

          • Scarlett May 31, 2023 (8:52 am)

            937:   Don’t know if I would assign racism to anyone here on the WSB blog, but your point is taken regarding the fashionable and smug progressive catechism found in yards, usually in pricey, exclusively white neighborhoods. 

      • Peter May 30, 2023 (4:01 pm)

        Lame and childish attempt at categorically disparaging bus riders. Get a life. 

  • Vee May 29, 2023 (7:32 pm)

    What happened about the private security business owners were doing. from 9 to 5am, I think that’s what was posted

    • GHO May 29, 2023 (8:19 pm)

      I was just wondering the same thing. Any update on how this JA program is going?

  • BUDDSMOM May 29, 2023 (8:12 pm)

    They hit the entire alley from Alaska to Oregon too.

  • Danimal May 29, 2023 (8:48 pm)

    WSB – wouldn’t posting the whole tag help readers to possibly identify the tagger though? I thought they often contain unique stylistic features, or sometimes incorporate the artist’s name or “handle.”

  • GD May 29, 2023 (9:15 pm)

    I for one support graffiti artists. They help keep our property values low. I’ve lived in West Seattle since 2008 and rent is out of control for the average non-techie Seattlite. Plus the bridge has been down so getting jobs downtown has not been an option. I miss when Seattle was a friendlier place to renters and artists. 

    • AC May 30, 2023 (12:35 am)

      Or maybe it just drives up costs for businesses, including apartments, that have to now spend money to clean it up or hire security, making things even more expensive. If you’re intent on trying to lower housing demand by driving away people, maybe try some legal antisocial “art”, like flying a confederate flag. I’d just move to a more affordable city with more opportunity, but different strokes and all.

    • Scarlett May 30, 2023 (7:05 am)

      Sadly, those Seattle days are long, long gone.  But then this is not the same country it once was, even from a few years ago.  You would think a pandemic would have reinforced concern for each other, but it only penalized some and rewarded others, compounding greed and self-interest.  Look at the stock market soaring even as inflation is crushing people.  

    • nonni May 30, 2023 (8:29 am)

      There’s graffiti “art” and then there are the illegible scrawls which conceal the fact that these idiots can’t even spell their own names. Then there’s the fact that, whatever they believe in their tiny minds, no, they do not “own” my fence, my neighbor’s tree and every shop’s wall, window and door.

    • wscommuter May 30, 2023 (10:34 am)

      Please do explain your thinking in supporting graffiti idiots.  They damage someone else’s property and you think that’s a good thing because you think it keeps values lower?  Would you mind publishing your address so that we can come damage your stuff?  

    • Auntie May 30, 2023 (10:50 am)

      Perhaps you would feel differently if this “art” (aka vandalism) was on your property, costing you money to have it removed – your house, car, bike, whatever. It’s easy to condone this when it isn’t wrecking something that is yours.

    • Alki DeadEnder May 31, 2023 (11:42 am)

      GD, Perhaps there is a fine line between artists and criminals that is eluding me. These folks who tagged businesses cost those businesses FAR in excess of their costs. In short this is a criminal Tax, perhaps in your opinion: an Art tax. Usually ,an Artist gets paid for their work and make money. It might not be unusual to find guerilla art, but it is not at a cost to the wider community and would survive critique, criticism, or peer review. As far as keeping Real Estate prices low, petty crime is not really a factor. For a moment, if you can, imagine someone tagging your art. Not sure if you are that open to having anything you did, either undone or damaged. Paint on paintings, weeds in plantings, limbs added to or cut off of sculptures are not the traditional idea of art (or Art).I really can not understand your position here. How you arrived at it, or the basic premise of the argument. Any chance you can enlighten me r.e. how vandalism is beneficial to the community?

  • Seattlite May 29, 2023 (9:30 pm)

    Too bad these criminals aren’t doing something productive instead destructive.

  • Rhonda May 29, 2023 (9:42 pm)

    I’d love to see the court system send the offender on a graffiti-removal rampage.

  • EJ May 29, 2023 (10:12 pm)

    Lincoln Park is utterly trashed too. I’m sorry, this kind of vandalism needs to be taken seriously by law enforcement. 

  • Danimal May 29, 2023 (11:49 pm)

    What I really don’t understand is why middle-aged people go around tagging stuff. Like seriously, get a ******* life. The one dude in the video is obviously at least 45.  I spotted a 50+ year old run naked onto the freeway last year by Boylston to tag the freeway walls. I think when older people do this it makes me even angrier than when disaffected youth do it.

    • Jay May 30, 2023 (9:56 am)

      Despair. A broken system. No hope of ever building a life or amounting to anything. There isn’t a whole lot of middle class opportunity. The average American will die broke the way the system is going. Without the American Dream, hope for a payoff for your hard work in the form of a good life, many people consider the social contract broken.

      • Scarlett May 30, 2023 (1:26 pm)

        You nailed it.   Upward mobility, and the dream of being able to rest your bones later in life,  is becoming a quaint platitude.   I’m not sure people have grasped, or want to face, what just transpired in the last few years,  the accelerated aggregation of wealth in certain pockets, and the accelerated erosion of the so-called American Dream for everyone else.  It’s frigthening what is happening.  

    • cwit May 30, 2023 (9:57 am)

      There’s a middle-aged person that’s tagging in the video? I must be watching a different video than the one you’re watching.

      • Danimal May 31, 2023 (7:07 am)

        The long haired person looks to me to be at least 35-45 years old.

    • Rhonda May 30, 2023 (2:09 pm)

      Those were boys in their late-teens in the video, not middle-aged men. 

      • Danimal June 1, 2023 (9:46 pm)

        I am still certain that the person in the stocking cap and green sweatshirt is middle-aged, or no younger than 35. Just before, and when he turns his head to his left, you can see his face. It looks like a middle aged man, with a goatee and mustache. I really do not think he is as young as the other guys.

    • junction dweller May 30, 2023 (3:12 pm)

      Why would the dude run naked to tag?
      That’s really taking it up a notch.

      • Danimal June 1, 2023 (9:48 pm)

        Haha, I know. I was astounded.

    • junction dweller May 31, 2023 (12:44 am)

      Why would the dude run naked to tag?  That’s really taking it up a notch.

  • Alki Jack May 29, 2023 (11:56 pm)

    Personally I am in absolute disbelief in GD’s comments. That is the first time in my life I have heard someone who supports vandalizing someones personal property. Maybe if you actually owned property yourself you wouldn’t feel the way you do. What if someone ruined something of yours you really liked, would you be happy with that and support it. 

    • Adam May 30, 2023 (5:08 am)

      The same person who still blames the bridge for not having a “downtown job” at a time when the bridge is up and jobs are plenty? Yeah, I’d just keep moving on rather than try and reason with them. 

  • Tg May 30, 2023 (12:49 am)

    ^ It’s sort of like when your whole community is gentrified and you end of being priced out of your own neighborhood. Back then, I was grateful for the sex offender recovery house next door and the guys dealing drugs on the corner. We all had an unspoken understanding, which kept the rent low and affordable.

    • Catgirl May 30, 2023 (3:15 pm)

      I’d rather pay more rent than live next to a sex offender halfway house, but hey, you do you.

      • alki_2008 June 1, 2023 (11:31 pm)

        My guess is that TG is male, without kids, and therefore doesn’t have the same concerns regarding sex offenders nearby than would a woman or someone with young kids.

        • TG June 2, 2023 (12:22 pm)

          What a strange statement to make. Everyone is affected by sexual violence – including boys and men as victims, and about 93% of incidents are where they’re actually known by the victim (versus strangers). So having places where people can live safely in society and report to their parole etc. is part of treatment and reducing recidivism. And I wasn’t saying that should be everywhere or any place, just available.Also wrong, was just trying to afford living independently in the city- as a woman attending grad. school -so I could learn to provide care for others.  Not pro crime, but there are larger issues at play when societal issues are not addressed, and sometimes symbiotic relationships, albeit unpleasant,  keep unchecked greed and capitalism in order. Or, provide balance where the government won’t, in this case, it sounds like these kids need to provide a lot of community service.

  • wetone May 30, 2023 (9:23 am)

    From what I heard our mayor Bruce Harrell say a few months  ago is he wants to work and pay these people to help add beauty to the city…….  Very time consuming and expensive cleaning this crap up, especially on brick and concrete. Many times the natural finish is never the same. Just remember in Seattle  the property owners are responsible for the clean up/cost done from these criminals and will be harassed and fined by city if not done. These people need to be caught and pay for clean up and some jail time…play and pay, accountability responsibility.

  • Harris May 30, 2023 (9:41 am)

    Most big cities have graffiti half of it is legal but that’s what happens when you support street art. I see graffiti on most businesses especially after covid when they were all artsy fartsy with the plywood after smash and grabs. 

  • Scarlett May 30, 2023 (11:01 am)

    I always roll my eyes at those who lecture others to do something “useful” with their lives.  There are many in this country who are considered legitimately employed – even admired like the capitalist vulture Buffett – but are doing infinitely more damage to this country than taggers.   

  • Bea May 30, 2023 (11:35 am)

    Just a note that I watched taggers vandalize a brand new Rapid Ride bust stop right before their Mom arrived to drive them home in a new Subaru. As with the poor, punk kids will always be with us.

  • Carol Troup May 30, 2023 (12:09 pm)

    This may be the same group that defaced the feminist icons (pinup might be easier to associate) house in Ravenna. I have seen the surveillance video of that – group of Caucasian guys in no hurry at all, they sprayed all sides of the house.

  • HS May 30, 2023 (12:21 pm)

    Well shoot. If this is the same person, then the long haired guy in a beanie is around 14-16. I saw him etching the back window on the C-line with a friend a few months ago. I did approach him. They exited on 35th and Barton and headed South on 35th. Seemed to be heading home. 

  • Peter May 30, 2023 (12:33 pm)

    These kids go to WSHS. Just saying.

  • John May 30, 2023 (2:59 pm)

    A parent will look at that and easily know it’s their kid.   The question is if they’ll confront them.

  • Schmitz Park Dad May 30, 2023 (3:09 pm)

    Itto’s got hit pretty hard.  Kudos to the owners for cleaning up their graffiti in less than 24 hours to help restore the neighborhood.  

  • boinsted May 30, 2023 (4:26 pm)

    I am reasonably sure two of those kids are West Seattle High School students. I have seen them before and saw them together at about 3:50 pm today in front of PCC. 

  • commissioned art is cool, tagging is not May 30, 2023 (5:31 pm)

    Probably the same idiots that keep tagging the old Swedish medical clinic building on Cali Ave, closer to the High School. 

  • TM7302 May 30, 2023 (5:54 pm)

    Vandalism is punished by caning in Singapore.

    • CAM May 31, 2023 (7:41 am)

      You’re right. Let’s repeal the Eighth Amendment. 

  • JunctionHomeOwner May 30, 2023 (6:15 pm)

    Let kids be kids… this is the least of the City of Seattle’s problems…. also not sure of the legality of doxing minors.  I’m assuming they are under 18… just saying. 

    • Auntie May 30, 2023 (6:27 pm)

      Let kids be kids??? How is vandalizing and wrecking other peoples’ property any kind of normal kid behavior? There needs to be (appropriate) consequences for this or they will just carry on thinking they are entitled to do whatever they want. 

    • kids being kids? May 30, 2023 (7:34 pm)

      Let kids be kids?! Perhaps they are yours judging by that statement. The parents are clueless or complicit. It’s extra annoying because it’s not even art. These are not street artists, there’s no creation. No big message. Just boring vandalism. Knew kids like this when I was their age. I was no angel but you knew the ones who were real trouble. They think it’s fun now but they are actually slipping through the cracks. 

  • Darnell Simpson May 31, 2023 (5:05 pm)

    You guys are making this kid famous. Gotta be at least the 2nd time you’ve posted a video of him. 

  • Schmitz Park Dad June 6, 2023 (1:34 pm)

    Raccolto got tagged badly on their patio countertop, front
    and side of building including the beautiful brickwork.  I walked by yesterday and noticed some goop
    or slimy stuff over the graffiti.  I
    walked by later and ALL the graffiti was completely cleaned off the brickwork.  Incredible! 
    Kudos to Raccolto for cleaning off all of the graffiti quickly to help
    restore the neighborhood.  I would be
    curious to know the product they used to clean off the brick work
    perfectly.  Nice work Raccolto in taking
    back the neighborhood.  

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