WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Glass-smashing, again; this time, Easy Street. Plus – West Seattle repeat offender charged in window case elsewhere

That’s a frame grab from a video Easy Street Records posted on social media, reporting that the person seen in the video broke the glass in their front door at noon Christmas Day, on a rare closure day for the shop. From the post: “For many of us in the retail industry, these kind of moments are really discouraging, but, especially on Christmas. Windows, glass, entryways…these are typically not covered by insurance. These are out of pocket expenses.” We recently reported on some of the other West Seattle businesses that have been victims of similar crimes, looking at whether a city fund set up for “storefront damage” has been much of a help.

As a side note, we’ve spent some of this quiet post-holiday following up on court cases, and happened onto a familiar name, a West Seattle repeat offender; turned out he’s been in jail since last month for breaking a business window in SODO. It’s been more than four years since we’ve had cause to mention Ryan J. Cox, but we saw his name on the jail roster and looked up documents to find out why. He is charged with malicious mischief for breaking a window at Krispy Kreme in SODO, estimated worth $2,200. He’s currently awaiting a mental evaluation to see if he’s competent to stand trial; according to documents on file, his “last known address” is in West Seattle, near Southwest Library.

Workdowntown December 26, 2025 (8:15 pm)

Horrible, so sorry.

I love chaos December 26, 2025 (8:31 pm)

Homeless people destroying things. Arrest, maybe. If arrested find “not competent” or other excuses to allow recidivism. But more homeless. More crime. More stressed out people. Less public funding for homeless and poor. Make more homeless, more crime. Wash, rinse, repeat, and repeat, and never stop …

Lauren December 26, 2025 (9:04 pm)

… what?
Neighbor December 27, 2025 (6:37 am)

History will view homeless/poor = crime the same way we view ideas like chattel slavery, segregation, or conditional suffrage. It’s an embarrassingly ignorant and self-realizing hallucination. Crime is in no way isolated to our unhoused neighbors.

Laura December 26, 2025 (8:55 pm)

So disheartening. West Seattle Nursery got hit on Christmas too- smashed door and merchandise stolen.

TMT December 26, 2025 (10:05 pm)

Geeeeeez so sad just makes me angry. I’ll swing by and support these businesses tomorrow. I like the sweatshirts from easy street and I’ll buy a few things from our West Seattle Nursery as well. TNT

Jm December 26, 2025 (9:35 pm)

Someone knocked over the potted trees in front of Next To Nature and broke them. The other planters were drug 5 to 6 feet from where they’re usually are. Front door mats were thrown in the street. This happened some time in between seven and 8:30 AM. The man in the photo resembles the man that I saw digging in the dumpster behind Chase Bank this morning.

Jules December 26, 2025 (10:16 pm)

He looks familiar to the guy sleeping behind Trader Joe’s. Around that nice church.

1994 December 26, 2025 (10:20 pm)

So sad the mentally ill are left to wander the streets and do what they want. They should have a supervised living situation. A 75 year old lady was downtown waiting to cross a street & randomly attacked by a guy with a board with a screw sticking out the end. The ladies son had a good question: why are people like this allowed to roam around? The attacker had numerous prior violent actions against other people, repeated convictions for violence but allowed his freedom.

bolo December 26, 2025 (11:38 pm)

“why are people like this allowed to roam around?”

President Carter, near the end of his term, made an Executive Order which which provided grants to community mental health centers.

In 1981 President Ronald Reagan repealed it, essentially defunding the program, causing a notable decrease in government backing for health programs.

According to analysts, the decrease in federal participation increased persistent difficulties in ensuring uniform financing, coordination, and availability of mental health services across the country.

Paraphrased from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980
- k December 27, 2025 (8:45 am)
  
  This exactly. Kennedy started the movement toward treating and integrating people with mental health in the community instead of institutions, but he included funding and support programs for them when doing so. That was continued by subsequent administrations (Nixon was a great champion of funding services for the mentally ill) including the one mentioned by Carter above. And then Reagan defunded it all, so there were no longer institutions OR community supports.
  
  We’re bearing the consequences of that now, where 25% of the US prison population is people with a diagnosed mental illness, at a cost to taxpayers of billions of dollars per year. Prison conditions exacerbate the underlying issues and eliminate trust that the system will help them, leading to refusal of services when they are offered, because the “services” they got previously were jail time, and all of the abuses that come with that. People don’t stop being mentally ill because we stop funding supports for them.
B December 27, 2025 (12:32 pm)

For some reason this post reminded me that I need to pick up a new copy of that Talking Heads album ‘Stop Making Sense’. Maybe I’ll swing by Easy Street today and see if they have one.

oerthehillz December 27, 2025 (6:11 am)

If this man has other misdemeanors and has been formally diagnosed with a mental illness then he is most likely in our Diversion Program which offers them one of two choices. They are offered jail or diversion (living situations with a supervisor) but they are able to walk away, they are not held against their will/rights.

Marcus December 27, 2025 (6:30 am)

A portion of our society supports our homeless population to live in crisis because any movement for mandatory treatment would be viewed as unjustified incarceration. And then we see the effects of this inaction as some continue to break windows and muck up our community. Most likely very few. With all the money we spend on homeless services this continues to happen. Millions of $$$ and still our homeless services do not address the mandatory treatment of the obvious needy. Just viewing that photo is enough for me. So I will encourage our leaders to enact mandatory treatment. Besides has anyone published just how much money we spend on homeless and what services are provided?? Seems like we need a complete overhaul and accountability of the homeless spending base.

Lauren December 27, 2025 (11:02 am)

“ Besides has anyone published just how much money we spend on homeless and what services are provided??” so easily found with a Google search, this almost reads as a rhetorical question….
k December 27, 2025 (12:48 pm)

Thanks, Marcus, for providing a post that really illustrates the other big reason we are where we are now. People who have no experience in these systems (and their elected representatives after them) routinely conflate mental health issues, criminal behavior, and homelessness. There is overlap between these groups, but they are distinctly different issues, with populations who have different needs.

The money we have spent on homelessness has not resolved the gaps in treatment for people with mental health issues because it’s not mental health funding, it’s housing funding. Housing groups are focused on housing. Housing First is an important piece of achieving stability for people with mental health issues, but they need long-term supports which is not what organizations focused on housing and shelter do. And while addressing housing and mental health issues first has long proven a preventive measure against crimes committed due to unmet needs, it does not change any of the crimes committed by people who are just criminals who want to do criminal things. The police are supposed to be on top of that, but we throw tons of money at them and still don’t get a response, so that’s a whole other thing.

So if you really, REALLY want to make a difference, get educated about these disparate populations. “Treatment” for homelessness is housing. Housing First is proven and loads of people would LOVE the city to take that approach. “Mandatory treatment” for mental illness is involuntary commitment, which already exists. “Treatment” for people who like to commit crimes is anti-recidivism programming in jail. That also already exists, though it looks different in every facility.

Joe December 27, 2025 (7:43 am)

I’ve seen this guy a lot over by the WS Stadium. I believe he’s homeless and lives in that area. He’s clearly mentally ill and/or on heavy drugs. He talks to himself, shouts, and swings at random things.

Admiral2009 December 27, 2025 (9:41 am)

1994 – agreed a jail cell provides supervised living conditions. And made to work cleaning up graffiti, garbage and the like during the day at minimum wage until they make enough money to pay full restitution to their victims!

Yes December 27, 2025 (10:04 am)

Yes….yes: both Marcus and K present, thoughtful, and relevant comments. There’s something deeply wrong in the system itself…

Austin j December 27, 2025 (2:59 pm)

He’s walking around the junction in the same outfit right now, near American diner. I let the cops know. Them seemed uninterested

Alkibean December 27, 2025 (4:07 pm)

Lock these miscreants up. I’m so sick of their crimes and anti-social behavior. Forced confinement , mandatory detox and anti-psychotic drugs. And before you pile on, I’m a deep blue social liberal that is fed up. They’re destroying our city.

k December 27, 2025 (5:56 pm)

If someone is acting out due to mental health issues, detox will not help and is a waste of my taxpayer money. If the person is not psychotic, putting them on these drugs will not help and is a waste of my taxpayer money. Incarceration is the most expensive way to use my taxpayer money to temporarily stop these issues, but most often exacerbates underlying causes and leads to more crime in the future, which in turn eats up more of my taxpayer money. I am not a big fan of wasting my tax dollars on actions that do nothing but assuage the feelings of people like Alkibean, while worsening the problem. I am BEGGING you guys to be considerate of the taxpaying populace and stop advocating throwing money at short-sighted feel-good solutions, and instead actually work on the underlying problem to prevent future crimes. At some point you have to own your role in creating additional victims, when all you ever say is “lock them up.”
Laura December 27, 2025 (6:30 pm)

Yes. Me too, and yes. Nothing short of this will work.

anonyme December 27, 2025 (4:17 pm)

The problem with the housing first theory is that many of these people had housing and lost it because of their behavior. They can’t be in housing that isn’t supervised, and placing them in housing with others who do not share their lifestyle is a not only a disaster waiting to happen, but likely a repeat of what already has. Supposedly we have all these programs in place, but without accountability and enforcement they’re useless. Meanwhile, all the businesses in the Junction (and elsewhere) are going to have to install sliding mesh grilles to protect their property, just like some big city slum. BTW, Bolo is correct about Reagan. It was he who shut down facilities that housed the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, and that was the origin of our current problem.

k December 27, 2025 (6:02 pm)

Please see my post above. This is why expecting housing-focused non-profits to solve mental health issues is ridiculous. It’s called “housing first” not “housing only”. Not sure where you heard there are wraparound supports for people with mental health issues, but I can assure you those are sorely lacking in this city, and throughout the country. Wait lists for beds anywhere are months long. Outpatient services have waitlists of a year or more. They are extremely underfunded and under-supported, and the only way to jump to the front of the line is to commit a crime. We should not be incentivizing crime by requiring it to get necessary services.
- anonyme December 28, 2025 (7:06 am)
  
  ““Treatment” for homelessness is housing. Housing First is proven and
  loads of people would LOVE the city to take that approach. “Mandatory
  treatment” for mental illness is involuntary commitment, which already
  exists. “Treatment” for people who like to commit crimes is
  anti-recidivism programming in jail. That also already exists, though
  it looks different in every facility.” K, I was literally responding to what you wrote. You’re only contradicting yourself.
  - K December 28, 2025 (9:55 am)
    
    If you think these posts incongruent, you comprehended nothing, regardless of what you think you read.

Scarlett December 27, 2025 (9:30 pm)

I wonder if some of you have the slightest clue of just how desperate the affordable housing crisis has become, here and elsewhere. I’m not talking about just a few, I’m talking about millions of Americans, some flat out living on the street, others working and still lving in their cars, many others forced to retire abraod because they can’t afford to retire here. Yes, just ouside your window, a national nightmare is happening,

Delirium Of Disorder December 28, 2025 (1:20 am)

The WSB has been covering Ryan J. Cox for almost 18 years now. A review of the coverage shows how it’s progressed from graffiti to assault to attempted murder, with many commenters predicting about their concerns over the years and how his crimes will only get worse and worse (spoiler alert: they were all right). Yet he continues to released back into society and continues to wreck havoc across the community. Rehabilitation or treatment obviously isn’t working, so what will it take to treat his issues? Will someone have to end up dead before he’s removed as a threat to society?

Pookie December 28, 2025 (5:44 am)

The fatigue is real. We should be building insane asylums and locking these “unhoused mentally ill” individuals up. Enough is enough. The experiment has failed admit defeat and do the right thing for them and society.

Dog Whisperer December 28, 2025 (8:16 am)

It might be time to do something.

Bike rider December 29, 2025 (1:02 pm)

The junction has a huge gaping hole with police and public safety.. there is too much potential for crime and danger towards people and businesses. And a homeless encampment that has grown bigger since the shutdown of a burien encampment. These human beings needs housing immediately and other resources to end the suffering. If nothing changes it’s a continuous cycle yet these things can get better if the highly gentrified area takes responsibility. The conservative population that has tried to take over west Seattle hasn’t done anything to cure the disease of homelessness it’s only enabled it further.. without better policing and policies and community outreach these vulnerable people have zero direction to move ahead and become a part of a better community. It’s 2025 why are people homeless in Seattle? : gentrification/ cost of living.. this over priced and over taxed region has gone too far with everything. Everyone is effectively paying for the richest one percent to ride on a cloud and the conservative values that many have here don’t help seattles growth and culture it’s just making it more expensive..support local people and businesses faze out big conglomerates and lighten up and help our beautiful city if you call yourself a local show your love

snowskier December 29, 2025 (1:48 pm)

What we’re currently doing just doesn’t work for guys like this and Ryan Cox. I’m amazed (actually not given our system) that Cox was walking the street nearly a decade after he nearly killed my friend. Clearly, they are incapable of living in normal society without causing severe harm to all those around them. We need Mandatory Treatment/Involuntary Commitment/or whatever you want to call it for these people. They will have clean clothes, food, hygiene facilities, a heated space to sleep, and medical treatment all while being treated or sedated to the point where they can’t harm themselves or the rest of us.