WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Alki carjacking (updated)

ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:12 PM THURSDAY: Police are investigating a carjacking reported just under an hour ago in West Seattle. The carjackers are reported to have arrived in a 2013-2014 Lexus hatchback with no plates; they’re described as “two unknown-race men, 20s, 6 feet, about 220 pounds, wearing masks.” The stolen vehicle is described as a white 2019 Porsche Cayman. Police were pursuing for a short time but last saw the car headed southbound on 35th SW, around Barton. (added) The carjacking happened at 53rd/Alki. If you have any information, the SPD incident # is 24-191246.

UPDATE, 11:14 AM FRIDAY: We asked SPD about this – here’s their report summary:

Seattle police responded to the area of 53rd Avenue Southwest and Alki Avenue Southwest for the report of an armed robbery/carjacking. The incident occurred at about 10:25 p.m. The victim, a 26-year-old man, reported he was opening the trunk of his Porsche Cayman when he was approached by two suspects demanding his car keys. One of the suspects was wearing a face mask and said he had a handgun. The suspect grabbed the keys and drove the Porsche southbound on Alki Avenue Southwest. The second suspect left in a second car, a Lexus, in an unknown direction. Other Seattle police officers spotted the suspect driving the stolen Porsche on Southwest Avalon Way and tried to conduct a vehicle stop, but the suspect drove away from police at a high rate of speed and officers lost sight of the vehicle near 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Barton Street. The victim had minor injuries and was treated on-scene. It does not appear the vehicles have been recovered at this time.

Colby July 12, 2024 (7:10 am)

I wonder if this is what we heard in Arbor Heights around 10:35pm last night. We heard police sirens, followed by what sounded like 5 or 6 gunshots. After the gunshots, the police sirens stopped.

WSlite July 12, 2024 (7:33 am)

Heard someone doing donuts a little before 11PM last night northeast of 30th/Roxbury. Thought it was odd because I don’t usually here that around here and the driver was doing donuts for a while. Wondering if it was carjackers with Porsche. Maybe cameras caught them driving recklessly and find another involved vehicle with license plates. Sorry for the victim, seems a lot of punks are out there more wreaking havoc in our city. We need to stand together and take back our community. If you see something, say something and take action if you can. I personally am fed up with these punks, they need to be held accountable and quit getting away with their recklessness.

lucy July 12, 2024 (9:18 am)

>>>>>> If you see something, say something and take action if you can.>>>>> What action? Am I supposed to get myself involved when the carjackers most likely have a weapon? Or am I supposed to pull out a gun and shoot them myself? What are you proposing?
Tired WS Mom July 12, 2024 (9:19 am)

My husband called this in to PD. They were at the swim center off thistle in the parking lot. Which ended I believe in a high speed pursuit
- Junk July 12, 2024 (10:21 am)
  
  That parking lot seriously needs some trees or something planted. It’s just a big empty concrete wasteland, super ugly and exposed to the sun. I have no idea how the parks department, of all people, could design such a desolate and un-park like lot. This would solve the doughnut problem there as well.
  - k July 12, 2024 (10:38 am)
    
    Budget, that’s how you get a wasteland. Trees cost a lot more money to plant and maintain and everyone balks when Parks asks for money, so you get concrete. Maybe if we put trees in the SPD budget we’d see more of them.
- RX July 12, 2024 (10:49 am)
  
  I’ve spoken to the swim center about this, and they’ve told me that despite the first homicide of the year being a child in their bathrooms, they don’t have security coverage of that paved area, because it’s shared with Sealth and falls under the school’s jurisdiction. They weren’t sure whether Sealth had cameras on that area. They told me there used to be a “real” gate there (chain link in 2019, per old photos), but during covid some kids rammed a truck through it and they don’t have any money, so they just got a reflective wire with a clip on the end, and now they don’t even use that except for on holidays like the 4th. It’s just wide open. They stopped trying. I’d love to see WSB follow up with them and get more answers, since it seems like despite all the public outcry and government spending, they’ve failed to do the absolute minimum to make that place more secure.

WS44 July 12, 2024 (8:38 am)

Saw this red Lexus with some very suspect individuals in it while I was walking my dog on Alki around 9:15 pm. Would most likely not have happened if there was actually a consistent police presence down here during the summer days.

Alki res July 12, 2024 (9:34 am)

We saw these (two) guys too at that time. We actually accidentally got them on a video, but no useful info beyond what’s described here. They were pretty clearly coming from or going to commit crimes of some kind, no plates, surgical masks, trashed Lexus. Alki should just have a cop on all nice evenings just watching cars go past and checking for no plates. Would probably pay their salary. Feels lawless in this city with the vehicle behavior. Truly impotent police department here when it comes to vehicular crimes. Oh and btw, a plague of donuts happened right after we saw these guys.
- H20K9 July 12, 2024 (11:34 am)
  
  Agreed!
Pinto July 12, 2024 (9:36 am)

Facebook and TikTok have many videos of people standing up to cops, cops raging, cops making bad choices or cops just looking foolish. Perhaps it’s deliberate? Seems like a clever way to erode law and order – if you were interested in that for some reason. I’m not saying police are perfect… But we are seeing what happens when we don’t have enough.
- GenesseeValley July 12, 2024 (10:34 am)
  
  Police aren’t perfect, that’s for sure. They’re going to screw up and we should have mechanisms in place for dealing with those screw ups but we still need cops. The defund movement has shown us what happens when police departments are, for all intents and purposes, dismantled rather than reformed.
  - Brian July 12, 2024 (12:17 pm)
    
    SPD was never defunded.
    - Pinto July 12, 2024 (2:16 pm)
      
      There was definitely a movement to defund SPD as well as some very negative rhetoric about police officers
    - Brian July 12, 2024 (4:56 pm)
      
      Defunding implies funds were taken away but they never were. You can have a movement all you want but if nothing happens as a result who cares. Rhetoric means absolutely nothing.
    - AlkiDreamin July 12, 2024 (5:02 pm)
      
      Again, SPD was never defunded no matter how much the police guild cried about it. The police have a bloated budget compared to other city services that are essential and could actually prevent crime. Nothing. has. changed. sadly.
  - ACG July 12, 2024 (5:27 pm)
    
    While the actual defunding may never have happened, the defund “movement” absolutely had negative impacts on our police force. With our city council and leaders so openly against the police, we lost a lot of officers who didn’t want to work in that environment.
    - Brian July 12, 2024 (6:21 pm)
      
      Are you implying that the defund SPD movement was spearheaded by city leadership? Lol no.SPD has all the funding they could want. The fact that they can’t hire officers is a culture issue that THEY created.
    - Byron James July 12, 2024 (11:49 pm)
      
      The SPD didn’t cause their lack of officers. Our previous city council and mayor are most of the reason . Anyone paying attention knows this.

Desperately Seeking Saka July 12, 2024 (11:35 am)

I saw the Lexus with the creeps inside on the new Stay Unhealthy Street last night just after sunset. No plates on front or rear. They were openly smoking weed and I wanted to tell them to knock it off but they looked too dangerous. I’m glad I didn’t now that they were violent, arrned criminals.

AJ July 12, 2024 (2:33 pm)

Did you see their race? This is info the police need.
- Brian July 12, 2024 (4:57 pm)
  
  In a Porsche I presume they won.
AlkiDreamin July 12, 2024 (5:07 pm)

“openly smoking pot at a public beach / waterfront.” umm, you just profiled half of my alki neighbors. #slowyourroll 🙄

Ken July 12, 2024 (12:29 pm)

Sad that although these two seemed suspicious as they were not following public rules, that nothing was there to slow them down. Sad as well how many of these stories end up with the perpetrators getting away. I also feel that the dangerous driving is much more of a hazard to the general public than Guns or drugs are. I hope these two are caught and brought to justice, but I won’t hold my breath.

Silas Elwood July 12, 2024 (2:44 pm)

Sounds like a lot of people were witness to these individuals yet none of you have described what they look like.

Ferns July 12, 2024 (10:46 pm)

Did you miss the part where they were wearing masks that covered their faces? It sounds like they weren’t brazenly doing it with their faces showing. They hid their plates too. Not exactly sure what your point is?

Neighb July 13, 2024 (3:13 pm)

I’ve asked this question about 6 times on this blog: Are police able to enforce license plate violations/lack of front and or rear plates? Living in W.Seattle, coming from DC, I never in my life saw so many unmarked cars as in Seattle. Never saw an unmarked car pulled over (must have seen at least 40 in my 14 months here).

Brian July 14, 2024 (9:25 am)

Last year I called the non-emergency number to report a van without plates driving around my neighborhood and dispatch asked me if the van was actively committing a crime and I said “besides the one I just described? I guess not.” And they absolutely did not care as a result.
- Righto July 23, 2024 (8:23 pm)
  
  No surprise there. When I saw teens very sketchily removing plates in High Point and replacing them with new plates, police never came.

Sorry, comment time is over.