Helicopter watch: Burglary suspect sought, then arrested

| Crime | Fauntleroy | Helicopter | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

It’s pretty much right over our house in Upper Fauntleroy. Nothing on 911 in terms of medic call. Listening to the scanner to see if we can pick up anything about who they’re looking for and why – they’re focused on a house (where, we don’t know) where radio traffic indicates they are following footprints, plus a canine is involved in the search. 8400 block has been mentioned, on or near Tillicum (east of Lincoln Park; map). 12:43 AM UPDATE: Per scanner, it was a burglary, and there is a suspect now in custody. Helicopter has just moved on.

Karlynn November 9, 2008 (12:37 am)

They have been circling over our neighborhood in Gatewood for about 15 mins now. Wish I knew what they were looking for. Been some weird dude on a bike riding by a few times, which is odd for this time of night. This seems to be happening more and more lately. Scary.

Jerald November 9, 2008 (12:38 am)

Cop car with spotlight on our street, Trenton west of Fauntleroy.

WSB November 9, 2008 (12:40 am)

They are definitely in the neighborhood I mention above – 46th also has come up on the scanner. Usually only one of us is up at this hour but fearless co-publisher Patrick was writing his report on the WSHS game and has left it behind to go see if he can find an officer to ask what/who they’re looking for – this is just blocks downhill from WSB HQ.

Oy November 9, 2008 (12:43 am)

cop cars marked and unmarked with lights flashing speeding down fauntleroy by park…???

Karlynn November 9, 2008 (12:44 am)

Well….three cars with lights and spotlights at California and Thistle. Just head to the end of Thistle and another heading east on Thistle. So, they’re definitely looking for someone very closeby.

Karlynn November 9, 2008 (12:46 am)

Glad they caught them. Lots of new crime around here lately.

Oy November 9, 2008 (12:48 am)

Is it just me or is there a helicopter search for burglars in this hood every friday or saturday night?

WSB November 9, 2008 (12:49 am)

Re: the police cars that headed away from the scene – per the scanner, reportedly they’re off to another burglary report, NOT close by but haven’t caught the address. We just jumped on this one because the helicopter was so obvious – when it gets involved, it’s clear to HUNDREDS of people (if not thousands) that something’s going on, so we try to get that answered as soon as we can.

Karlynn November 9, 2008 (12:51 am)

Thanks for being on top of it guys. Makes me think I need to program my scanner too. I haven’t had it out in years, but with what I’ve witnessed around our neighborhood the past few months, I think I should. Appreciate the info!

WSB November 9, 2008 (12:53 am)

Oy: It was actually two weeks ago that we had the Fri/Sat night helicopter double feature:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=11447
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=11479

Karlynn November 9, 2008 (12:57 am)

Yup. I remember the two from two weeks ago as well. In our neighborhood there are a few empty/foreclosed houses that have been attracting ne’er do wells. Has been quite unnerving.

Joe Weihe November 9, 2008 (12:57 am)

We were watching the heli from the deck and my wife said “go check the WSB and see what’s happening”… You guys are great, keep up the good work!

Tom November 9, 2008 (12:59 am)

It’s my next door neighbor’s place – on Cloverdale above Fauntleroy Place. Four police cars with a canine unit and the helicopter. Burglary was all we could find out from officers at the scene. Owner was away for a few days. We didn’t hear any sounds of breaking and entering or alarms, but there sure was a lot of action here in a hurry!

Oy November 9, 2008 (1:00 am)

Aah, thanks. This is what I’m remembering. I think people have been talking about it everywhere: bus store, etc. Thanks for the blog, I came here tonight when the helicopters weren’t letting up, to see what was going on!
*off to double-check all my doors are locked*

shawn November 9, 2008 (5:30 pm)

Last night (sat. 8th) there was a helicopter circling right above our street. It seemed there was several police cars a few houses down from ours. The helicopter was there for about 30 to 45 mins. Kind of scary. the kind of excitement I don’t want. So check that your doors are locked and your property is well lit. I checked the local news and nothing.
So thank you west Seattle blog!

WSB November 9, 2008 (6:46 pm)

You’re certainly welcome.

A reminder along with a welcome to anybody who just found us — when it comes to “the local news,” for West Seattle, that includes us.

This site is a commercial, journalist-run (30 years in TV, radio, newspapers, corporate online news, between the two of us) news operation, the only one that focuses 24/7 on neighborhood-level news (particularly “what’s happening RIGHT NOW”) for West Seattle. Generally, you would never find out about something like this from a citywide media outlet — not big enough to hit their radar — unless police are, say, looking for a killer – which turned out to be the case with the chopper on Friday 10/24, staging over West Seattle till moving in to help arrest a long-fugitive Kent murder suspect in White Center. Even at that, the citywide coverage that weekend never mentioned the chopper staging in WS, so you wouldn’t have necessarily put 2 + 2 together and known the WC arrest was the reason for the WS chopper.

Just so happens we found out about last night’s incident almost instantly because the chopper was right over our house – but in many other instances, we are very thankful for tips received from folks in the other areas of West Seattle letting us know about what’s happening in their neighborhoods – We truly are on duty around the clock so don’t ever hesitate to e-mail, call or text:

editor@westseattleblog.com

206/293-6302

(e-mail address for the phone) 2062936302@vtext.com

twitter: westseattleblog

facebook: WS Blog

We have a postal mail address too, on the “contact” page:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?page_id=2

Kelly November 9, 2008 (7:27 pm)

Hi All: I was the victim in this incident. A white male broke into my house in Fauntleroy last night around 12:30. I’m a single mom, home alone with two young kids (5 and 3). The guy tried kicking in my side door and then walked around up front and kicked in my front door. That noise woke me up and I went downstairs to see what was going on… and froze on my landing as I looked down and saw this jack ass standing in my doorway. I backtracked upstairs, had a complete and total moral dilemma about what to do next: cell phone and interior lock were in my bedroom, to the right but to the left were my kids’ rooms. I headed into my bedroom, locked the door, and called 911 from my balcony. The burglar juggled on the bedroom door handle and… I don’t remember much then. The police arrived within probably 5 minutes. They had been in the neighborhood because the same person had tired to break into Colman Pool and hour early and they were just winding up their search for him in Lincoln Park. I was lucky. The police had already identified the suspect from his truck and apparently was a level one sex offender. The guy ran with a few of my household items and the police found him a few blocks away. I was taken to that scene and identified him. It was awful and scary and shattering considering the fact I thought this neighborhood was so safe. The police were excellent and gave me a lot of good pointers for security on my house. At least next time, if it happens, I’ll be more prepared.

alkigirl November 9, 2008 (9:30 pm)

Kelly – Thinking of you and praying that you will return to feeling safe in your home. Your instincts about what to do first were spot on – you were courageous.

WSB – Is there a list of tips and resources for us to tap in regard checking out how secure our homes are? I think most of us know the basics, but it would be helpful to review. Also, are there either free (eg SPD or community officers) sources to do a walk-through and check of the security of our homes; or services that we can TRUST who can provide the same type of service for a fee? I’d really like to have an expert check out my home and make recommendations. As always, thanks for the great work you do. We are SO fortunate in West Seattle to have WS Blog.

WSB November 9, 2008 (9:33 pm)

Thanks for the kind words.
I found this page pretty quick and will add it pronto to the “resources” list at the bottom of the Crime Watch page:
http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/Neighborhood/burglary.htm
Besides some tips, that page in turn has some interesting links, including this one:
http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/Neighborhood/CPTED.htm

Julie November 10, 2008 (1:58 pm)

Don’t ever think you’re safe in any neighborhood. We got burglarized last October. We live on a busy street (Admiral) and were broken into in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon while we were out at a soccer game for a couple of hours. We were definitely being cased, as there was an unusual knock on the door and our dog was acting “odd” the week prior. By the sounds of it, ours was not committed by the same man that broke into Kelly’s home. Ours was done by a team (judging by the amount taken in a short amount of time – including a very heavy plasma flat screen TV). I am assuming they are still roaming free as the police didn’t do much more than take a report. Definitely don’t assume you’re safe, and get an alarm system if you don’t have one. It can at least help with peace of mind. Even if one is caught, there are others out there.

Kelly November 11, 2008 (8:01 pm)

I re-read some of the posts and wanted to provide more detail on what the Police told me re: security. Few things that I didn’t realize. Those “sticks” we lay at the bottom of the slider windows for added security– they’re useless unless there is less than a 1/16 of an inch between the end of the stick and the window. If someone can slide the window just a bit, a coat hanger can be used to pop out the stick. Also, when you mount any exterior lights, make sure they are high enough up so someone can’t just unscrew the light bulb. Cut back your bushes as a lot of burglars will hide in them and wait for someone to come home. Charge your cell phone where you sleep; make sure the deadbolts on your doors have screws longer than two inches– at least four (that is why my door broke so easy and, apparently, it’s a short cut the police see a lot of contractors make) and also make sure the screws don’t just hit drywall… they need to be driven into something solid; never leave purses etc. where someone can see them from a window; don’t leave garbage cans under windows where someone can crawl on them to access the window; get your ladders into your garage and don’t store them on the outside of your house… if I can think of more specifics, I’ll repost

WSB November 11, 2008 (8:43 pm)

Kelly, in case you missed it, I covered his court appearance yesterday and will follow the case re: his bail hearing tomorrow:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=11788

-TR (WSB editor)