Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

ADMIRAL GUNFIRE: What sounded like gunshots just before midnight last night in the 2600 block of 45th SW (map) did turn out to be gunshots – but neighbors didn’t know for about 18 hours.

A neighbor who heard them texted us after calling police. Via scanner, we heard officers dispatched to check them out, but heard nothing more, until seeing an SPD auto-tweet this afternoon mentioning “property damage” in that same block. We texted our original tipster to ask if they’d ever found evidence of gunshots. She went out to check – and discovered shell casings had turned up in the street. We were in the area so we stopped by the neighborhood to photograph the shell casings in the street and planting strip as neighbors waited for police to return. Turned out, they told us, the “property damage” was a shot-out car window down the block (no photo, as we couldn’t find it), close to the far southwestern corner of the back playground at Lafayette Elementary. Silver lining to the non-silver bullets: Neighbors who hadn’t met before were out in the street getting acquainted.

UPDATE: We have since heard from the owner of the car window hit by a bullet, who sent this photo:

While the windshield wasn’t technically “shot out,” they pointed out, it still has to be replaced.

(back to original report) 18TH/BARTON ROBBERY: Also early this morning, an e-mail question came in about a SPD tweet logged as “armed street robbery” on Thursday evening in the same area that was the topic of a discussion by neighbors and police at a community-council meeting this week. We hadn’t heard anything about it at the time but have since procured the report from SPD. The robbery was reported to have happened around 4:15 pm; officers finally found the victim a few blocks from the scene around 5:30 pm and reported that he seemed intoxicated and did not want to file a report. Nonetheless, they wrote one from what few details he had given – that two people described only as “Hispanic males” had held him up at knifepoint and taken a gold ring and glasses from him. They asked the victim repeatedly if he felt safe staying in the area, and said he would not answer.

CAR PROWL IN NEW GARAGE: First Crime Watch reader report since the Spruce/LA Fitness underground garage at 39th/Alaska opened recently: Jim e-mailed to say, “My Subaru Outback was broken into on Thursday evening between 8 and 8:30 pm June 4. I was on the p1 level under the new LA Fitness club in West Seattle. Two windows were broken out and a backpack stolen.”

After almost six years, the verdict is in for the killer of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, a West Seattle High School graduate. KIRO TV reports (as do other regional news organizations) that a King County Superior Court jury has found Christopher Monfort guilty of murdering Officer Brenton, 39, in Leschi on Halloween night 2009. Monfort was also found guilty of attempted murder and arson; the latter charge is from a firebombing at a city facility downtown that damaged/destroyed vehicles including a mobile command unit that had been used in this area (and is just now finally being replaced). (added) Our partners at The Seattle Times report that a jury will next decide whether Monfort’s sentence will be life in prison, or death.

Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports this morning:

ANYBODY MISSING THAT CAR? M says it was abandoned “in the alley between 32nd & 34th St SW and Henderson and Barton. Black 4-door Toyota… I’ve reported it etc, but in case anyone is missing their car and reading the blog…”

BREAK-IN REPORTED: Taylor says this happened sometime between 8:30 pm and 11 pm on Tuesday night near 45th and Dakota. When a resident came home, the front door was “wide open and our living room trashed … (a) bedroom door had been kicked in, clothes thrown everywhere, jewelry boxes on the floor empty change jars thrown around.” Police took two items for prints but found no sign of forced entry; later, Taylor found spots of “bent and messed up” grass in the yard, suggesting three suspects, and then “footprints in our garden windows,” and a 3-prong garden tool turned up on a bed. The burglars did not steal any electronics but did know the difference between costume and real jewelry and left the former behind, too. Taylor concludes, “I just felt like we should inform you that these people are in our neighborhood and that they are dangerous and to look out for any suspicious people and keep the kids and all others safe.”

SCAM CALL: The “IRS lawsuit” scam call continues making the rounds. David is the latest to report it: “Just a quick note to inform you that I got the ‘IRS Lawsuit’ phone scam call this morning at 6:15am. It was a robocall instructing me to phone an area code 360 number. Unfortunately, I did not get the entire number.” It was also reported in the WSB Forums earlier this week. Here’s the official IRS scam-info page, with alerts and advice.

2:05 PM: While we haven’t been able to get full details from Seattle Police yet, we wanted to tell you what we do know about this, given where it happened: SPD is investigating a strong-arm street robbery reported just before 10 this morning at California/Hanford [map]. The robber took the victim’s backpack. While the location is just south of West Seattle High School, we do NOT know if the victim was, or was not, a student; because the report isn’t in the system yet, SPD media relations didn’t have access to details such as the victim’s age. The only descriptive information in the system so far regarding the robber is: A Hispanic man in his 30s, 6 feet tall, wearing jeans. When we find out more, we’ll add it here.

4:09 PM: SPD has added one more detail so far – the victim is a 13-year-old girl.

Two notes in West Seattle Crime Watch:

CAR BREAK-IN: From Yvonne:

I just wanted to report a car prowl incident that happened today in the North Admiral district off of SW Waite Street.

Today when I entered my car parked in front of our house on a residential street, I noticed that the contents of my glove box was emptied out onto the floor and my old iPhone was stolen out of my center console.

They also stole a Quickbooks 101 book from my back seat. Nothing of real value was taken and no damage was done to my car but I wanted to alert the WS community in case anyone else experienced a car break in/theft/prowl last night or this morning.

She filed a police report – which SPD urges, even if “nothing of real value” (or nothing at all) was stolen. You can even file online by going here.

CRIME CONCERNS IN SOUTH WEST SEATTLE? Be at the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting tomorrow night. From co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick:

Please join us as we welcome Seattle Police, Department of Planning and Development and the City Attorney’s Office to discuss crime in the Westwood/Roxhill/Delridge Triangle area. We have been working with SPD for over three years on theft, drug use/dealing, prostitution, squatting, assault, and gun violence. Our area needs an update on what is being done to address our challenges. No formal agenda – all are welcome.

WWRHAH’s meeting runs 6:15-7:45 pm Tuesday at Southwest Branch Library (35th/Henderson).

Thanks for the tips about a heavy police presence in Morgan Junction.

When we arrived, we discovered it was actually related to two incidents – both involving stolen vehicles. One, a car stolen from Federal Way, was found in the southeast end of the West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) parking lot, off 42nd SW south of SW Morgan; police told us they were investigating the possibility it had been linked to mail-theft incidents.

Not even half a block south on 42nd, a stolen motor scooter was found, and one person was taken into custody. Both discoveries came from tips, we were told.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share today:

NORTH ADMIRAL PROWLER: From Sarah:

Just wanted to get the word out that sometime overnight (Saturday night into Sunday morning) someone entered our backyard through our alley gate and looked through our garden shed. They also tried to get into the garage. Nothing was taken, but it’s a little unnerving that someone was checking it out. They had removed our floodlight from the outside of the garage (probably fearing it would come on when they went in). They left lots of footprints in the soft dirt in our back yard. We live in the 2100 block of 47th Ave. SW.

On the SPD incident-report map, the only other burglary/attempted-burglary report in West Seattle so far in the past 24 hours was in the 5100 block

RECOGNIZE THIS SHOPLIFTER? A man was caught on video stealing at The Beer Junction and they asked if we’d share photos. He spent six minutes in the store on Thursday, May 14th, asking about a 750-milliliter bottle of Rogue Farms Savior, and eventually was caught on camera stuffing it in his pocket

(We don’t publish photos of not-charged suspects in circumstances like this unless photos/video show them clearly committing the crime; we’ve seen the store surveillance camera video of that actually happening, in this case, but are not publishing it because most of the frame shows people who weren’t involved.) Another image caught his face:

While that’s not a massive amount of shoplifting, TBJ proprietor Morgan Herzog notes, “We are hoping there’s someone out there that recognizes this individual. Shoplifting is costly for all of us, especially small business owners like ourselves. West Seattle is a wonderful place to live and work, and except in a very rare case like this, we are super lucky to have great customers who love beer as much as we do!” If you have any idea who the thief is, please contact Seattle Police and refer to incident number 15-164144.

(UPDATED WEDNESDAY MORNING with additional description information)

2:07 PM: Thanks to the Holy Rosary School parent who forwarded this message just sent to families:

I hate to have to report to you that a “Flasher” came by the school today at around 12:30. They did not make themselves known in the usual area, which is the play toy section of the playground. He appeared in a white car on 41st and jumped out of the car at the gates that open on the driveway into the school. The gates were closed, as they always are. He then jumped back into the car and drove away. One girl saw the activity and her parents were notified. The police were notified and showed up within minutes.

The most-recent “flasher” reports near a local school in our archives were by Chief Sealth IHS in February and in January. The last one we have on record near Holy Rosary was last September; the vehicle in that one was described as a silver minivan. We’re checking with police to see if they have any more information about what was reported today.

2:18 PM: Just talked to Det. Patrick Michaud in SPD media relations – they don’t have any additional information so far.

8:51 PM: We asked Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis about this during tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting. Nothing new, he said – one challenge was elapsed time between the incident and the time it was reported, so police will renew efforts to help schools teach about fast reporting and detailed descriptions.

ADDED 11:30 AM WEDNESDAY: As per the comment discussion, we have checked back with police yet again to see if any description information is available. Now that the written report is in, here’s what they have: “White male w/ long brown hair wearing a hat. A white 4-door car.”

Following up on the two Alki street robberies early Saturday and early Sunday, we now have the full narratives from the police reports. The one clear thing both have in common: They happened at/near Whale Tail Park, 59th/Lander, in the early-morning hours.

Read More

In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

BASEBALL GEAR STOLEN: Pauline hopes you’ll be on the lookout for what car prowler(s) took in Westwood:

Today 2 baseball bags were stolen out of The back of my SUV in the 8100 block of 32nd at Thistle: A large rolling baseball bag with black and orange youth catcher’s gear, a Rawlings catcher’s mitt and a Rawlings baseball glove; a black and orange catcher’s helmet and a black batter’s helmet and an Easton S 500 baseball bat, and a baseball backpack with a blue batters helmet in it.

This has been reported to police.

MULTIPLE CARS DAMAGED IN HIT-AND-RUN: Last night in the 2800 block of SW Morgan in High Point, at least four cars were damaged by a hit-and-run driver. Sasha shared photos of some of the damage:

No injuries were reported. Scanner traffic later in the evening indicated that police were investigating a possible suspect found elsewhere in High Point, asleep in a car and reportedly under the influence, but we haven’t yet been able to confirm whether that resulted in an arrest.

WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL TOMORROW: Tuesday night, 7 pm at the Southwest Precinct, come find out about the latest crime trends and stats in West Seattle and South Park, bring your neighborhood concerns/questions directly to local police leadership, and learn about gangs from a panel of former gang members. The precinct is off Webster just west of Delridge.

In West Seattle Crime Watch:

SECOND ALKI STREET ROBBERY: Someone was held up at gunpoint in the 2700 block of Alki SW after 4 am today, according to both this SPD auto-tweet and what we’ve since found out was heard on police radio at the time. We won’t be able to get the report until tomorrow, so we have no other details, but that would be the second street robbery of the weekend in the Alki area, after this one early Saturday.

CAR PROWL: Via the WSB Forums, Greg reports a car prowl early today near 42nd/Brandon, west of Fairmount Park, with a GPS and binoculars taken.

STOLEN? OR LOST? Amy found this case near 9th/Elmgrove in Highland Park:

She suspects it was stolen and dumped. Know anyone who’s missing something like this, whether by theft or some other means?

Another bicycle stolen in the Admiral area, and this time the thieves took the rack, too:

My daughter’s bike was U-locked to the bike rack at 41st and Admiral (Friday) night. As of (Saturday) morning, rack and bike were gone: The bike is a silver-grey Cannondale CAAD 8 with blue tape on the handlebars. The theft has been reported to the police.

On Bike To Work Day, someone stole a bicycle from a West Seattleite who says she bikes to work often. Jane sent the photo and report:

My bike was stolen from in front of the Admiral Way Bartell Drugs on Friday, May 15. The cable lock was cut. It is a grey Raleigh (picture attached) with a rack attachment, very new. I would very much appreciate contact if seen, as I bike to work nearly every day.

As with other stolen vehicles – if you see it, please contact police.

P.S. Tuesday is the next West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, 7 pm at Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster). Local crime trends and neighborhood concerns will be a centerpiece of the meeting, as always, but guests are booked too – former gang members who “will present their gang experiences and what it took for them to leave the gangs.”