WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Storage-facility burglaries; dumped-likely-stolen bicycle

| Crime | Found bicycles | West Seattle news

STORAGE FACILITY BURGLARIES: A victim told us about break-ins reported at Life Storage in the Luna Park area last week and an apparent arrest. For details, we’ve obtained the police-report narrative. The call started as an employee reporting last Thursday that someone – not a customer – had been sleeping overnight at the facility for two nights, during which four separate units had been broken into and “rummaged through,” though it wasn’t clear what if anything had been taken. Video showed that the suspect had been coming and going via a valid code, though whose code or how the suspect got it wasn’t clear. Evidence was found of cut locks, including one in the suspect’s backpack. The 52-year-old suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail, and released one day later. He is not yet charged, but still could be at a later date.

ABANDONED-LIKELY-STOLEN BICYCLE: A texter found this abandoned bicycle in Highland Park:

If it might be yours, let us know and we’ll connect you with the finder.

Bryan D June 29, 2023 (7:04 pm)

We use that storage unit! Guess we need to head there to check it out. Hoping we would’ve gotten a call or something from them to let us know it occurred

Amanda Arkebauer June 29, 2023 (8:29 pm)

I was a victim. We were notified by Life Storage. We are still in the process of cleaning. Items were vandalized and broken. A few things taken, but nothing of any real value… some clothes. We really didn’t have valuable things in there. We were more concerned about identity theft since we had old tax records etc stored there

WSobserver June 29, 2023 (11:02 pm)

Nice bike! I hope it finds the owner.

John June 30, 2023 (1:55 am)

Not the first time this location has been broken into. Back when it used to be called Store-More My dad had his unit and several others broken into 10 plus years ago

Alki Jack June 30, 2023 (7:20 am)

This makes me question our legal system. “The 52-year-old suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail, and released one day later. He is not yet charged, but still could be at a later date.” Just exactly how do you find and arrest him if they decide to charge this homeless person later? Why was the thief and burglar, who was caught with evidence that he committed the crime on him, not charged?

Wseattle June 30, 2023 (9:34 am)

My thoughts exactly! No wonder we have so much crime: it’s a revolving door back out onto the street with no consequences.