Two weeks ago, we reported briefly on a warrant arrest on 12th SW just north of Roxbury, adding later that police said they’d arrested a 16-year-old wanted for carjackings and armed robberies.

(Security-camera images that police believe shows suspect – we have obscured what was his partly visible face)

Tonight we have details on the charges filed against the suspect – which involve five incidents in October, including two carjackings and one 7-11 robbery in West Seattle, all of which we had reported here. The charging documents detail the painstaking work by which SPD detectives tracked down the 16-year-old, including cross-referencing cell-phone records and matching part of a word on the back of a hoodie seen through a car window on surveillance video.

The teenager is charged as a juvenile, so we are not identifying him by name. In all these incidents, there were accomplices, but we don’t know whether any of the others have been arrested yet; this suspect was arrested at his home. He is charged with five counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of auto theft, and one count of unlawful gun possession, all felonies. He has no previous record so far as we have found.

The crime spree detailed in the charging papers spans October 12th through 28th. It begins with a carjacking in an apartment garage in the Central District just after midnight on the 12th; the victim told police a white vehicle (later found to be a Hyundai Tucson) tailgated his blue Audi into the garage, where three people attacked him, two pushing him down, one pulling a gun, taking everything from his pockets, and driving away in his car. This all took barely 2 1/2 minutes, according to security video.

The second carjacking in which he is charged happened here, at Harbor and California, around 2:40 am on October 17th (here’s our original report). The victim was in her parked car on a conference call with clients in Asia, when three people approached both sides of her car, demanding her keys and asking if she wanted to die, subsequently pulling her out, throwing her to the ground, and taking off with her beige Mercedes, which also contained a laptop, tablet, phones, purse, and other items. As we reported originally, the papers say they were tracked to Roxbury Safeway but not pursued when they fled from police. Many of the victim’s belongings were discarded near a gas pump there. Before 8 am, her Mercedes was found abandoned in Auburn. Video from that morning showed these robbers were accompanied by a car matching the Audi stolen five days earlier. It also showed a suspect in a jacket/hoodie with PLEASURES written across the back – matching an image from the Audi theft.

Three days later, also on the West Seattle waterfront in the early morning (just before 1 am October 20th), a man was carjacked while sitting in his black BMW in the 1000 block of Harbor (our original report had it as the 1100 block of Alki, per police at the time). The charging papers say three men pulled up behind him, started yelling, and one hit his car window with a rifle before demanding he get out. They took his keys, car, and phone; the latter was found tossed out on the Admiral Way hill. Meantime, the stolen blue Audi crashed on the West Seattle Bridge; witnesses say its occupants got out, got into the stolen BMW, and sped off.

Investigators linked the three incidents and started requesting cell phone data for six related locations in hopes of cross-referencing to find at least one phone present at all those locations, possibly leading them to a suspect. They got a warrant for that data on October 25th. Then on October 28th, another crime – four robbers held up a Shell station in the 7200 block of East Marginal Way at 1:19 am. Half an hour later, the California/Charlestown 7-11 was robbed (here’s our original report, which also mentions the East Marginal link), with the loot described as including less than $100 cash, vape products, and a bag of chips. They got away in a white van. A Renton 7-11 was held up half an hour after that. Then around 10:30 am, the van – a Kia Sedona stolen in High Point – turned up in Des Moines.

A week and a half later, on November 8th, after analysis led them to one phone present at five of the six locations, investigators got another warrant. They traced the phone to a 53-year-old man who turned out to be the suspect’s father. Given all the images they had of the robbers, they researched whether he had a teenage boy in the house – and indeed he did. They got a DOL photo of the suspect and started surveillance to determine who had possession of the phone. Getting live alerts on the phone’s location, they determined it was the 16-year-old suspect. Further surveillance also showed him in apparel items that matched to some of the security images from the robberies – including one in Kent (they found out Kent PD was working on a similar case). Then on November 21st, with SWAT, they arrested the suspect.

Unlike adult court, juvenile court usually schedules arraignments shortly after charges are filed. Online court records show the suspect appeared before Chief Juvenile Judge Melinda Young last Wednesday and pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered him to remain in detention, declaring him a “threat to community safety,” but said “the court will consider release once there is more structure in place.” His next hearing is December 14th.

That car crashed on SW Barton west of Delridge this past half-hour after being stolen in a carjacking near Roxbury Lanes. That’s according to police at the scene as well as dispatch audio. The driver hit this car …

… and then took off on foot. He was described over the air as a Black teenager in a green cap, black jacket, black pants, white shoes. No injuries reported; no other information about the carjacking circumstances, as SPD is referring that part of the case to King County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

SIDE NOTE: This happened while we were working on a story about the arrest of a teenager suspected of two West Seattle carjackings and one local armed robbery – watch for that a bit later.

First, two weekend incidents on which we obtained information from SPD this morning:

SOUTH ADMIRAL CARJACKING: Police say this happened around 6 am on Saturday morning in the 3200 block of California SW (near Springline). The victim told officers that the carjackers – who arrived in a red Kia Soul – tapped a handgun on his car window to get him out and steal the car, a gray 2017 Audi SUV. Dispatch audio included an early description of the carjackers as two Black men in their late teens or early 20s, thin, wearing hoodies and masks. The stolen Audi was subsequently seen headed eastbound on the West Seattle Bridge, but archived audio indicates officers lost sight of it on Beacon Hill, around Beacon/28th, shortly after a pursuit was authorized and initiated.

GUNFIRE NEAR LINCOLN PARK: 911 callers reported hearing gunfire in the vicinity of Lincoln Park’s north lot around 3 am Sunday. Police found no evidence at the time – no victim, no property damage, no casings – but hours later, a 911 caller reported finding a 9mm casing in the area.

CAR BREAK-INS: This is a reader report from Jessica:

At least two cars were broken into on 55th Ave SW in Alki last night. One of the cars was a 2003 Honda CRV (our car) and the other was a 2020 Nissan Versa Sedan (our neighbor’s car). Many of the belongings that were taken out of the cars were thrown out along 55th Ave SW. We’re interested if anyone saw unusual activity on 55th Ave SW last night or if they’ve seen additional belongings dumped in the area. We’re still missing a few minor things, we think.