West Seattle, Washington

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Crime 6555 results

West Seattle Crime Watch: Car break-in
March 9, 2009 4:04 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Out of the WSB inbox, from Amy:

We live on 37th Ave SW near the Hanford St intersection [map] and wanted to alert other West Seattle residences that our car was broken into, sometime early this morning, we believe. They stole our Garmin unit as well as an MP3 player.

As we hear time and time again at West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meetings (next one, 3/17, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct), these thieves are particularly keen on GPS’s, so even if you take yours inside at night but leave suction cups visible in the car, your car may be an attractive target.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Not just mail theft – mailbox theft
March 9, 2009 9:41 am
|      15 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Fauntleroy | West Seattle news

We usually don’t publish exact addresses of crime victims, but in this case, the address matters because it’s part of what was stolen: At 8424 46th SW near Lincoln Park, someone made off with the address sign you see at left AND the mailbox. Chris e-mailed the photo along with the report that the theft happened sometime between noon Saturday and 9 am today, and is most concerned about getting back the mail. The sign is lettered in stainless steel and matches a nearby trellis.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Police search for Gatewood prowlers
March 7, 2009 11:06 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Gatewood | West Seattle news

Received the alert from Shelley via Facebook, police searching for suspected prowlers right now in the 37th/Thistle vicinity (map) – she subsequently talked to one of the officers; read on for what she reports:Read More

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Update: Rite-Aid robbery suspect at large, but SWAT situation over
March 6, 2009 9:10 pm
|      62 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(Toplines: Rite-Aid pharmacy robbed 8:35ish pm, robber thought to have fled into nearby apt., SWAT team called out, determined after 11 pm he wasn’t there and is still at large)

(photo added 9:48 pm)
ORIGINAL 9:10 PM REPORT: Thanks to Manuel for the first tip – and the phone’s just started ringing too – we’re en route to check out the “heavy police presence” around Rite-Aid south of The Junction (map). One report says it’s a search for a robbery suspect, and police may soon be stopping traffic in the area. A “command post” is being set up in the area to manage the operation – scanner says police are going to route traffic “around the Rite-Aid.” 9:17 PM UPDATE: 42nd SW also is blocked at Dawson, a block east of Rite-Aid. 9:21 PM UPDATE: Talked to police at the scene – they confirm a robbery attempt at the Rite-Aid pharmacy, and the robber may be holed up in a nearby apartment building – that’s why police are bringing in reinforcements. Again, avoid the area. Just received a note from Nick, who was there just after it happened:

I just got back from filling a prescription at Rite Aid on Calif. The place had been held up just seconds before I got there. Probably around 845 pm. I first heard the store manager on the phone with 911 telling the police about the robbery, saying the suspect had ducked into some apartment buildings across the street.. When I went into the back to the pharmacy, the young pharmacist was on the phone talking to 911, clearly shaken up. When she got off, she told me a man had jumped over the counter, surprising her. “you can’t be back here,” she said she told him. He then brandished a gun, took some medicine and fled. I heard the store manager then say that he had given chase, thinking the guy was a garden variety shoplifter and not knowing he had a weapon. i walked out of the riteaid to see about 4 or five police cars. the cops were putting on their flack jackets, all carrying shotguns or semiautos. one guy in assault gear (helmet, etc) was walking around an apartment building with his weapon drawn. scary stuff.

The SWAT team has arrived. Photos shortly. Information as it develops. Again, California and 42nd are both blocked at Dawson – don’t know about points west (let us know if you are seeing anything over there). (short video clip added 9:53 pm, SWAT team members gearing up)

9:39 PM UPDATE: We just checked the extent of where traffic is blocked off. California/Brandon on the south (by West Seattle Nursery) – over to 45th on the west, 42nd on the east, and then up to Dawson on the north. So if you need to get between north and south West Seattle, you’re going to have to veer either all the way west toward the water or east toward 35th or Delridge.

10:01 PM UPDATE: Police have moved the roadblock another block north, to Hudson, so that’s the new northern edge. Here are the boundaries, roughly (the red triangle marks the Rite-Aid):


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10:21 PM: No play-by-play to report because what we’re hearing on the scanner is all tactical stuff that “live” media don’t report in case it gives something away to the person who’s being sought. But it’s still a very “active” scene, and co-publisher Patrick is there with the rest of the media while your editor here monitors the scanner and posts updates as they are heard, or called in by P., or e-mailed by WSB’ers.

10:33 PM UPDATE: There’s activity at the scene – a chopper was there for a while – and police are coming out of the apartment building, heading toward the Rite-Aid across the street. Patrick is with the TV crews at the scene and there’s no clear information yet exactly what has happened. He’s seen two women in handcuffs – the robber was reported to have been a man, but there also was scanner traffic at one point an hour or so ago indicating a “separate incident” that police were handling inside the building.

10:55 PM UPDATE: There’s reportedly been an arrest — Patrick is trying to confirm the circumstances and that this is believed to be the robbery suspect — and California should reopen shortly.

11:01 PM UPDATE: Traffic back to normal and police leaving. Still working on confirmation of exactly who they have and whether nobody else is believed to be at large.

11:06 PM UPDATE: A captain at the scene tells us the robber IS NOT in custody. Two people who were detained have been released. This may explain why we heard scanner traffic earlier asking how much of a lag there had been between the actual robbery and the call to police. Have seen this happen before, where a suspect is believed to be holed up somewhere – then turns out not to be. We have a call out to the on-call media officer to try to double-verify this, given that it conflicts with what one other media organization reported.

11:17 PM UPDATE: SPD media unit Officer Renee Witt just called. She confirms: The suspect IS NOT IN CUSTODY – so he was not in the apartment after all. We don’t have a description to share, at this point.

11:37 PM UPDATE: Lt. Ron Smith at Southwest Precinct also confirms the robber was NOT in the apartment, when the SWAT team finally got in. He also confirms the account published above of what happened — pharmacy was robbed, robber showed a gun. So at this point, the search hits a dead end for now — robber still on the loose.

12:12 AM: Adding a few photos before we close this out: First two are from WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli:

Co-publisher Patrick took this next one – the bus at right was brought in for potential use if residents had to be evacuated from the apartment building the robber was thought to be holed up in.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Wheeled away
March 6, 2009 1:26 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, Shay explains why she woke up to a 3-wheeled car, and wonders if anyone else in the area got hit – read on:Read More

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Fauntleroy/Dawson murder update: Suspect in court
March 5, 2009 2:32 pm
|    Comments Off on Fauntleroy/Dawson murder update: Suspect in court
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

gavel.jpg21-year-old Dion (aka Deon) Fillmore, charged with murdering his 70-year-old grandmother Lavon Barrett in her Fauntleroy/Dawson apartment February 13th, appeared in court this morning to answer the second-degree murder charge against him. Dan Donohoe of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says Fillmore pleaded not guilty and is due back in court March 19 for a “case-setting hearing.” Fillmore remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. As we reported when the charges were filed, investigators say Barrett died after having been beaten, strangled, stabbed, and “stomped on.”

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West Seattle Crime Watch: 3 arrested after Harbor Ave robbery
March 5, 2009 10:19 am
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

If you haven’t seen this on the WSB Crime Watch page, which includes the direct feed from the Seattle Police SPDBlotter site, SPD is reporting an early-morning “home invasion” type break-in in the 3000 block of Harbor Ave (map) early today – for starters, here’s the SPDBlotter report:

On 3-5-09 at 1:13 a.m., three people entered a residence in the 3000 block of Harbor Av SW., stating they had a gun. They then took multiple items including a laptop, flat screen tv, a purse and a set of vehicle keys. The suspects fled in a black Nissan with a temporary plate in the rear window. Officers quickly spotted the vehicle and followed it southbound on I-5 until eventually stopping it at exit 154. All three suspects were taken into custody and the property was recovered from the vehicle. The suspects were transported to the Southwest Precinct and later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.

We checked with police for more details – turns out this was NOT random: One of the three people arrested is the victim’s son, who’s in juvenile custody, according to Officer Renee Witt in the media unit, so his status isn’t available, but the other two were adults, a man and a woman, and both are still in jail, according to current listings on the King County Jail Register.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Pigeon Point 11-car rampage
March 3, 2009 10:37 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Pigeon Point | West Seattle news

First, this note went out last night on the Pigeon Point neighborhood list:

Two cars in the 4100 block of 20th Ave were car prowled, a van at the very north end of 20th Ave was burglarized and a vehicle was stolen from the corner of 21st Ave and SW Genesee. [map]

Then tonight, Pigeon Point neighborhood organizer Pete Spalding sent this followup:

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update of what I have learned in the last 24 hours. It seems that at a minimum there were 11 vehicles that were either car prowled, vandalized, burglarized or stolen on Sunday evening/night. Most of these were on 20th Ave SW and the one that was stolen was on 21st.

Pete also reminded Pigeon Point’ers that this is a good time to organize a Block Watch if you don’t have one already, and a good time to meet with yours if you do. (Benjamin Kinlow, crime-prevention coordinator at the Southwest Precinct, is the person to contact about setting one up.)

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To catch a car thief: The video the prosecutor showed
March 3, 2009 7:25 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle video

That’s the video we mentioned in our earlier report on King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s presentation today to the Rotary Club of West Seattle; as soon as we saw it, even before Satterberg finished speaking, we sent a note to his media liaison to ask if we could have a copy to share with you – it is quite the gripping clip, with video and audio from inside a police car as officers worked to stop the driver of a stolen car, who sped throughout West Seattle one night in November 2007. Not sure if this has been made public before – we were still working in TV news then, and don’t remember having seen it – nonetheless, it’s worth a look. As Satterberg observed, “This is why auto theft is not really a nonviolent crime – it’s amazing (in this case) that no one got killed.” (As for what happened to the guy arrested at the end of this – that’ll be another followup.)

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Prosecuting Attorney tells West Seattle Rotary a “remarkable” story
March 3, 2009 4:43 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Rotary Club of West Seattle | West Seattle news

That’s King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, special guest at this afternoon’s meeting of the Rotary Club of West Seattle at Salty’s on Alki. He shared what he described as a “remarkable” story — one that might cheer you up a bit, if the off-and-on deluge of Crime Watch reports tends to leave you worried. Satterberg said the crackdown on car theft has brought dramatic results – and he says that’s particularly important because car theft is seen as a springboard to other crimes; someone steals a car to go commit burglaries, or worse. Read on to hear about the numbers he listed, what else he told the Rotarians, and after that, a few notes about what they’re up to:Read More

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Seattle City Light warning: Phone scammers at it again
March 3, 2009 11:45 am
|    Comments Off on Seattle City Light warning: Phone scammers at it again
 |   Crime | Utilities | West Seattle news

Just in from Seattle City Light – a warning that a familiar phone scam is making the rounds again – read on for the official news release:Read More

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Lightning no, car prowlers yes
March 2, 2009 4:37 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   Arbor Heights | Crime | West Seattle news

Mandy e-mailed us from the 10000 block of 31st SW (map), where car prowlers have struck twice – read on:Read More

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Checking on the Steve Bushaw murder investigation, 1 month later
March 1, 2009 12:41 pm
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

(February 1 photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
One month ago tonight – Super Bowl night – the southern block of the heart of the West Seattle Junction business district, Alaska to Edmunds, swarmed with police collecting evidence in a sudden, shocking shooting. Though the victim, 26-year-old Steve Bushaw (shown at right in a family photo from last summer, holding his niece Ava), originally was described as having non-life-threatening injuries, he died within hours at Harborview Medical Center, and the search was on to find the two men suspected of West Seattle’s first 2009 murder. Police have had little to say since the shooting that night — they say both men opened fire, both were described by witnesses as black, and their getaway car was said to be a “white sedan,” last seen heading south from The Junction. We checked again with SPD’s media unit late Friday, and Detective Mark Jamieson told WSB there is ZERO new information to make public – no additional description, no hint at whether arrests are any closer than they were after it happened. Jamieson reiterated that the moment homicide detectives — who continue to call this “an active investigation” — have something new to release publicly, we’ll hear it.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Stolen “care package…from Grandma”
February 27, 2009 1:30 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

We’re moving this up for wider attention after Molly K posted it as a comment on this mail-theft story from Monday:

We had a care package from my mom stolen from our front porch (28th & Myrtle in Sunrise Heights [map]) on Friday, February 20. We knew it had been stolen because a neighbor in Sylvan Heights found a letter and check from my Grandma in their trash and sent it back to her . My husband and I walked the trail between our house and Sylvan Heights and found traces of our package – a couple pacifiers, a book, a card and check addressed to my son from Grandma, and the empty box with my mom’s return address. The jerks ripped it open and threw the stuff they didn’t want into the blackberry bushes. Apparently they kept the baby clothes, the quilt my mother made, and the needlepoint Christmas stocking my 90-year-old grandmother made for my son because we have yet to find those. We also found the remains of another person’s package and took that stuff back to her.

If anyone was along that trail last Friday (the one that starts at 28th and ends at Sylvan Way) and found any baby stuff, or if you live in Sylvan Heights and had inexplicable baby items in your trash Friday afternoon, please let us know.

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Update: Prosecutor canceling West Seattle appearance tonight
February 26, 2009 4:41 pm
|    Comments Off on Update: Prosecutor canceling West Seattle appearance tonight
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | White Center

Just got an update from Dan Donohoe at the office of King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg: He says Satterberg has a family emergency and has to cancel his planned appearance at tonight’s South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting, but will reschedule. (However, the law/justice reps who are usually on hand at the meeting do include a prosecutor’s-office rep.) Everything else planned for the meeting, including updates on local crime trends and nuisance spots, is on as usual, 6 pm, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW.

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South King County cities settle on Des Moines jail site
February 26, 2009 2:08 pm
|    Comments Off on South King County cities settle on Des Moines jail site
 |   Crime | West Seattle jail sites

Of interest since a West Seattle site is still in the running as the possible location of a municipal-misdemeanor jail for “north/east King County cities” including Seattle: A coalition of South King County cities has just announced it’s chosen a site in Des Moines, according to this P-I story just published, on port-owned property (map). As for the latest on the Seattle (etc.) site search, Becca Fong provided an update at this week’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting, noting the environment-impact “scoping” process has just finished, adding that HPAC brought up “as many environmental concerns as we could find, to broaden the ‘scope,’ hopefully making our Highland Park Way site a little less appealing.” Now, she said, the process is in a “holding pattern,” with the official environmental-impact statement due in about six months, triggering another process of public comment and review before the site is chosen next year.

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Happening today/tonight: Plants, pets, prosecutor, parks
February 26, 2009 5:31 am
|    Comments Off on Happening today/tonight: Plants, pets, prosecutor, parks
 |   Crime | Elliott Bay Water Taxi | Gardening | Pets

PLANT SALE: It’s happening at South Seattle Community College, 11 am – 3 pm. Nursery (North Lot entrance), promising “blowout prices.”

PET ADOPTIONS ON WHEELS: The big yellow MaxMobile is due back in West Seattle to offer mobile pet adoptions at Pet Pros in Westwood Village, noon-3 pm (more info here).

PROSECUTOR IN WEST SEATTLE: Got questions about what happens to criminals AFTER police arrest them? King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg is the scheduled guest at the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition at St. James Place tonight, 9421 18th SW (map), 6 pm (free dinner!).

PARK BRIEFINGS: The Seattle Parks Board hears a briefing on Seacrest dock improvements to facilitate year-round Elliott Bay Water Taxi service as well as briefing on possible changes to park operating hours, parks HQ downtown at 7 pm.

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Update: Grandson charged in Fauntleroy/Dawson murder
February 25, 2009 2:53 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

gavel.jpgJust in from King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe: “Dion Fillmore was charged today with murder in the second degree for the death of his grandmother on February 13 in West Seattle. He remains in the King County Jail on $1 million bail. Arraignment is scheduled for March 5.” Last week, Fillmore was charged in an unrelated assault case (WSB report here). His grandmother, 70-year-old Lavon Barrett, was found strangled, stabbed, beaten, and “stomped on” (according to the autopsy) in her Fauntleroy/Dawson (map) apartment building the night of February 13th; Fillmore, who’s 21, was arrested the next day. Court documents filed in connection with the second-degree murder charge say evidence against Fillmore includes blood on his clothing with DNA matching the victim.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car-prowl confession, and much more
February 23, 2009 10:25 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news

We’ve just gone through the last week’s worth of West Seattle police reports from the Southwest Precinct, so we can bring you summaries of notable incidents. We start with the arrest of a teenager who confessed to car prowling (described by local police recently as the most serious current crime trend): Early Friday morning, police answered a call about two suspicious males leaving a driveway at 32nd and 97th. When they got close to the area, they saw two people take off running as soon as the patrol car was within sight; the two, ages 18 and 14, were stopped behind Roxbury Lanes/Casino. As an officer patted down the older suspect for weapons, he felt various items which the suspect said was change he’d taken out of a gray SUV a few blocks away. A wallet also turned up, and the suspect said that had been taken from a vehicle. After being placed under arrest, the 18-year-old told police he had gone into five vehicles in all, but said that the 14-year-old had not gone into any of them. The 18-year-old was booked into the King County Jail for theft. (The jail register says he got out 36 hours later, with bail having been set at $475; it also lists a two-day jail stay for the same suspect less than two weeks earlier, for investigation of car prowl.) Ahead – car prowls that did NOT result in arrests (so far), a purse-snatch attempt in Morgan Junction, a 50 mph drunk-driving suspect in a 30 zone, a fence-jumping shoplifting suspect who needed medical attention, and much more:Read More

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Neighborhood alerts: Mail theft; suspicious security soliciting
February 23, 2009 4:27 pm
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Door-to-door alert | Seaview | West Seattle news

Two items to share this afternoon – first, from Keri:

Just wanted to send out an alert for my area neighbors (Morgan Junction area at Mills Street) that in the last two weeks I’ve had mail stolen from my mailbox and a package taken from my front porch. This is the first time in the year I’ve been here that this has happened

Second, from Corey:

I live in the Seaview neighborhood. Two teenage girls came to my house in the evening last week inquiring if we have ADT. I asked them what they were looking for and they were kind of vague. I mentioned this to a neighbor and they had visited them as well. My neighbor had called ADT asking if they were sending people around concering their systems and they said no and that they would not send people around in the evening. These girls are targeting houses without security systems and if anyone encounters them they should call the police so they can at the very least investigate.

At the bottom of the WSB Crime Watch page, you’ll find resource links for both deterring mail theft and dealing with solicitors.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car theft near Ercolini Park
February 23, 2009 9:27 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox from David:

Our car was stolen last night from the 4800 block between Alaska and Oregon, just two houses away from Ercolini Park [map]. I’m wondering if you have any other reports of thefts in the area, and if not, if you can post in the crime watch section so people are aware of it. It is a gold-colored 1999 Audi A4, so let me know if anyone sees it driving around!

No other reports in to us so far, but sometimes Crime Watch reports bring out news about something else happening nearby. David has called the police to come out and take a report.

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Fighting crime: King County prosecutor in West Seattle this week
February 22, 2009 12:13 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Safety | West Seattle news | White Center

Also from the “coming up” file – The man whose office is in charge of what happens to criminals after they’re arrested is scheduled to be in West Seattle this Thursday, at the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s last major public appearance in the West Seattle/White Center vicinity was four months ago, at the “Public Safety in Peril” town-hall meeting (WSB coverage here) that he, Sheriff Sue Rahr, and others held to discuss then-looming budget cuts. So what’s happened since then, and how is it affecting the task of keeping criminals off the street since they’re caught? You can find out firsthand on Thursday night at St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map); the meeting starts at 6 pm with free dinner, as always, and continues till 8 pm – Seattle Police and King County Sheriff’s Office reps are always on hand to update crime trends in the south WS/WC area too.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Luna (Anchor) Park-area vandalism
February 21, 2009 7:03 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Reported by CL:

Friday night, between 5 PMish and midnight, multiple cars on the water side of Alki near Luna Park received an egg wash… shells still on the street today, though mostly crushed by now. Cars were parked on both the east and west ends of the bus zone … so whomever threw the eggs had to keep at it a bit… probably others involved too, though these were what I saw… Also, don’t know how current / new , but there is a big graffiti on the seawall just off the bottom of the steps from Luna Park down to the beach … Seattle Parks has been advised.

(Luna Park, in this case, refers not to the business district along Avalon just south of The Bridge, but to the area where the waterfront amusement park of that name stood long ago, now marked by the small piling-top pocket park that is also known as Anchor Park.)

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