West Seattle, Washington
16 Sunday
Somebody fired two shots into the front window of a south Morgan Junction business less than an hour ago. Our photo shows one of the bullet holes in the glass at Stella Ruffington, a dog-care center in the 7000 block of California SW. No one at the business wanted to comment; police say no one was hurt, neither human nor canine. They were trying to sort out the circumstances.
Barring breaking news, here’s our last West Seattle Crime Watch roundup of 2014. (You can always check the archives, by the way, via either the CW page – see the tab on our header – or here.) We are always sorry to hear about ANY of this happening, but we appreciate the reader reports, so that other West Seattleites can be better-informed – as we mention often, we don’t get as much information from police as you might assume. (We’re working on that, though.)
RECOGNIZE THIS CAMERA THIEF’S JACKET/BOOTS? From Grant in Morgan Junction:
My home’s two exterior security cameras were stolen on Monday, December 29 around 10:00 pm. I believe the thief crept along a narrow unlit path alongside my property, then across my backyard, and around to my front door to disable and remove my door camera from behind. Next he proceeded to my driveway camera where he again came up from behind it and disabled it before removing and leaving.
A rake was found by my door suggesting this was used tilt the camera. The door camera was thoroughly removed with a screwdriver, but the driveway camera had part of its mount left attached to the house. This suggests to me the thief was probably just wanting to get the cameras fast to sell them.
If nothing else, it shows someone had studied my house beforehand and planned how to come in through the backyard to take these at night. That person may have already been in the backyard before to make sure there was no backyard cam to catch him coming in that way. Lesson learned: mount valuables like security camera high up and with tamper-resistant screws, and make sure a thief can’t disable and remove them from behind.
HAVE YOU SEEN KATHY’S CAR? Stolen in Upper Fauntleroy:
My one and only family car….blue 1997 4-door Honda Civic was stolen last night on SW Sullivan Street near 39th Avenue SW. It has a child’s car seat in the back. License plate AJY 3038. The black chrome along the bottom of the driver’s side has also been removed (previous car prowl incident) . There are a couple of small bumper stickers on the back with Seattle Storm license plate frame.
Call 911 if you see it.
Click or scroll for (updated) three more reports – another stolen car, found; prowler/peeper at a local home; and (just confirmed and added, 2:07 pm) a store break-in:
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:
STOLEN CAR: Amanda hopes you’ll keep an eye out for her car – “My car was stolen from the alley of (the 900 block of) SW Holden St between the hours of 2 pm Sunday and 8 am Monday morning. It is a gold 1994 Honda Accord with the license AIB2949.” Call 911 if you’ve seen it.
TWO CAR BREAK-INS: We received a texted report this morning about two cars broken into on 48th SW in the Admiral area. The texter notes, “Lucky for us, we don’t keep anything important in our cars, so no harm, but unneeded this time of year, especially since we have just brought home our son from the hospital just over a week and a half ago.”
ANOTHER CAR BREAK-IN: An unfortunate reminder that car break-ins don’t just happen when everyone but the criminals are asleep – one happened lightning-fast to Lisa near 16th/100th:
I walked into the Autozone store after having my check engine light checked with one of the employees so they could print the results, and within less than 1 minute somebody had smashed my window and grabbed my computer bag. I was parked directly in front of the store, and it all happened in moments…
ADDED: One more 48th SW break-in:
(Monday) night someone went into our Subaru parked on 48 Ave SW between SW Dakota and SW Genesse. I am sure they were disappointed. We don’t leave anything in the car. They did search hard. They went through the whole interior of the vehicle including the side panel compartments in back in the wagon. Completely ransacked it.
Tonight’s West Seattle Crime Watch starts with two incidents today/tonight that resulted in arrests:
CAR-PROWL SUSPECT ARRESTED: Thanks to several people asking us about an incident near 20th/Thistle (map) tonight, we’ve been able to get information from police: An area resident saw someone “prowling inside her car” and confronted the man, who threatened her, showing what “appeared to be a weapon in his waistband.” He then took off. At some point, police were called and responded with a K-9 team; the dog found the suspect, and he was arrested.
BURGLARY INTERRUPTED: Also interrupted, a break-in at a home in the 6000 block of 26th SW (map) this afternoon. We’ve confirmed details with police on this one as well: Someone in the house heard glass breaking and hid while calling police. They arrived and saw three suspects flee. They chased and caught two nearby; the third fled westward to High Point, and other officers found him there, also with the help of a K-9. Police say one of the suspects had a cut hand, from broken glass; some stolen property was recovered; and one suspect threatened to kill an officer. All three were booked into jail.
And two three reader reports:
VANDALISM: According to a texter, taggers vandalized garage doors overnight along the 47th SW alley between Stevens and Lander (map). It’s been reported to police.
PLANT THEFT: CR reports from north of Morgan Junction:
Our green ceramic glazed pot (about 16″ tall) with 1 foot tall “lemon cypress” was stolen from the 5900 block of California Avenue SW (map). The ceramic pot is located on our main entrance door of our townhouse. It was stolen between nighttime of December 26 to early morning of December 27.
ADDED 3:10 AM – CAR PROWLS: Just got a text (206-293-6302 any time) that two cars had been prowled on 45th between Hanford and Hinds a short time ago. Police were called and are there now.
Our first West Seattle Crime Watch roundup since pre-Christmas starts with two reader reports:
BURGLARY INTERRUPTED: From Jeff:
Attempted residential break-in. 7500 block of 46th Ave SW, approximately 7:45 (Friday) night. Neighbors came home as it was occurring. Burglar fled. Police notified.
We’ve asked a followup question about any description that might be available.
STOLEN BIKE: So often, stolen bicycles turn up abandoned somewhere – the thief used it to get to the scene of the next crime, and then cast it aside. Sharon is looking for hers: “My bike was stolen from (the 1700 block of) Alki Ave SW. It is a black Marin crossover with a sticker on the the front, which may have already been taken off. … I will provide a reward if found.”
We also have three reports from the online police files; it usually takes several days for narratives to become available, if they ever do, but we keep watch to see what’s new, and found these, including gifts stolen from a church and rapidly returned:
Seattle Police say about three of every four stolen cars turn up somewhere. Today’s West Seattle Crime Watch starts with the latest one.
Eric‘s stolen 1997 Accord was featured here last week, and we got the photos and update from him last night:
I wanted to let you know the King County Sheriff notified me on Saturday he found my car in Skyview. When I went to the impound lot, I found some other victim(s) stolen items in my trunk including opened christmas cards, a lyric/poetry notebook, silver serving platter, a license plate which was not mine and many other items. My belongings were unfortunately missing.
Feel free to share this info if you would like to. Sure wish they would catch these creeps.
Eric had written that his kids’ booster seats were in the car when stolen.
One more Crime Watch note – an early-morning text about car prowls in the 11th/12th/Henderson/Barton area; police were searching shortly after getting the call.
We’ve just obtained the police report for an armed robbery reported early today in the 3200 block of SW Avalon Way. The exact address has been redacted, but the holdup is described as having happened in an apartment-building parking lot visible from apartments above it (which likely means a parking area off the alley). The police report says it happened just after 1 am and that the victims told them they had pulled into the lot and were getting out of their car when the three robbers approached from the north.
When 37-year-old Admiral resident Duane Atwood was charged last July in connection with an indecent-exposure incident on Beach Drive, prosecutors said they expected to charge him “soon” for alleged telephone threats against an acquaintance. We’ve been watching court files ever since. This month, he was charged with one count of felony harassment, and his bail was doubled to $500,000.
Zippy’s Giant Burgers proprietor Blaine Cook was expecting today to be one last full day of business before an early closure Tuesday for the staff party, and then a long holiday break. Instead, Zippy’s will be opening a bit later than usual today because he has to buy a new cash register – to replace one stolen by burglar(s) who broke a door to get in. He told WSB he’s not sure what time it happened; a family member who comes in to clean around 4 am discovered the broken glass and missing register.
The cash register is the only thing taken, according to Cook (update – Zippy’s Facebook post says, a safe too) – the burglar(s) didn’t even take the champagne that was awaiting the staff party. No surveillance video – no camera – but that, he says, will have to change. Since Zippy’s is in the unincorporated area (9614 14th SW), the King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating; deputies were just leaving as we arrived. You’ll recall the Greenbridge area had a spate of business burglaries last month; Zippy’s is several blocks west of there.
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight, plus a store-theft report from the public SPD files involving a bottle stolen and a bottle thrown:
If you still have something coming via postal or package delivery … take note, we’ve received four more package/mail-theft reports today/tonight alone. See them ahead, along with another theft report (shoplifters bolting a store tonight):
Two items in West Seattle Crime Watch this morning:
POLICE SEEK TOY-THEFT SUSPECTS: Just published on SPD Blotter – a theft case police hope you can help them solve:
Police are looking for two men and a woman who stole toys from a Delridge drug store and attacked an employee when he tried to stop them Monday night.
The suspects walked into the store, in the 9400 block of 16th Avenue Southwest, around 7 PM. One man filled a shopping basket with toys and left out without paying. When a store employee confronted him outside and tried to photograph his license plate with a cell phone, a woman grabbed the phone away.
She couldn’t unlock the phone to delete the photograph, so the man who stole the toys warned the employee to delete the image or he’d return for him. The third suspect started up a car and all three fled, throwing the employees cell phone into the street as they left.
If you know where police can find these three suspects, please contact robbery detectives at (206) 684-5535.
The SPD Blotter post has the suspects’ names and photos, which we’ll add here as soon as we can.
(added) Suspects as identified/shown by SPD – in order as shown below, Raul Hernandez, Sandra Garcia, Omar Cruz-Resendiz:
(back to original report) STOLEN CAR: Eric‘s red 1997 Honda Accord was stolen sometime Monday near California/Holly in south Morgan Junction. Inside were two booster seats for his kids. Washington plates AQJ7944 – call 911 if you see it.
FRIDAY NIGHT 8 PM UPDATE: In the robbery story – one suspect is on the King County Jail Register now, Omar Cruz-Resendiz, booked at 2 pm today.
SPD is just out with its newest SeaStat slide deck – an every-two-week briefing given to department leadership, highlighting crime trends and hotspots. Above is the precinct-by-precinct breakdown of car prowls over the four-week period from November 16th to December 13th (last Saturday). The car prowl total for the Southwest Precinct – West Seattle and South Park – number fewer than half the next-lowest precinct. See the full deck here. It also includes a look at SW Precinct numbers for all major-crime categories in the past month; the most-common type is “larceny/theft,” totaling 136 of the total 249 “major crimes” in West Seattle/South Park over the four-week period examined.
ADDED 11:30 PM: Eric asked in comments about a map for comparison. The SPD “police reports” map, when sorted for car prowls and for the same four-week period shown above, doesn’t seem to show quite as many incidents, but you can get an idea of the hot spots – Lincoln Park, for example, where the circled “11” indicates 11 car prowls during those four weeks:
(While the screengrab does not show the entirety of the SW Precinct, it did not show any car prowls north or south of the area shown; there were a few to the east, in South Park.)
Three notes in West Seattle Crime Watch:
STOLEN CAR IN FAUNTLEE HILLS: From Jeni:
I’d appreciate folks keeping an eye out for my dark blue 2007 Saturn Vue SUV that was stolen last night. The license plate is ARD2720. There are Obama and Gonzaga stickers on the back window. It was stolen from my home near 38th Ave SW & SW Henderson between 7:45 pm (12/15) and 4:00 am this morning (12/16). A report was filed with Seattle Police.
WYATT’S BREAK-IN FOLLOWUP: As promised, we checked back with Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor) in Westwood Village, after a second break-in in nine days. Sacha sent a photo showing what they had to clean up:
No new info about the case yet – co-proprietor Kirk Keppler talked with a detective extensively this morning. And he talked with Channel 7 TV, who stopped by for an interview this afternoon.
PACKAGE THEFT: Bonnie believes a thief hit her house on Monday morning:
Possible package theft at North Admiral. As I drove away from my home to take my child to school, I noticed a UPS truck in front of my house. I was anticipating a package, so I thought it was for me. When I returned (maybe 7 minutes later) nothing was on my porch. Checked online to see if anything had been delivered, and sure enough at 9:15 my package was left. I’ve reported to SPD.
P.S. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council is taking December off – tonight would have been the monthly meeting, as the third Tuesday – but expecting to be back next month, on January 20th.
2:17 AM: Thanks to the texters who reported major police activity in Morgan Junction very early today. So far we haven’t been able to get full details, but we know police are/were investigating an armed robbery in the 6500 block of California SW, where one SPD car remained by the time we got there, and that it might be linked to a robbery elsewhere in the city. That’s according to radio communications, which described the robber as a black man in his early 20s, 6 feet tall, very thin, red face mask, red shirt, black pants, black handgun, with two female accomplices, and a possible silver getaway car. We’ll add any additional details we are able to get from police later this morning.
9:13 AM: Police confirm the Subway store itself was held up. No further confirmation, though, on whether it was involved to any other robberies, and no arrest(s) reported so far.
For the second time in nine days, Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor) at Westwood Village has been burglarized. It happened this evening – exactly when, the proprietors and police were still trying to figure out when we heard about it from a texted tip and went over a little more than an hour ago. Once again, someone broke the front door to get in, same way entry was made during the early-morning break-in on December 7th. We’ll be following up with them and police tomorrow.
Scammers are still at work out there, trying to steal your money by making you think you are at risk of utility cutoff. We’ve reported this before (including earlier this fall) and today Seattle City Light is out with another alert:
As temperatures continue to drop and the importance of keeping your home warm rises, scammers are taking full advantage of the situation by targeting utility customers; threatening to shut off power unless payment is made to a fraudulent bill collector.
Seattle City Light is receiving 25 to 30 reports per week from customers targeted by such scams, often some of Seattle’s most vulnerable residents. Scammers commonly target non-English speaking individuals, elderly, and small business owners.
4 PM: Ian reports an overnight car theft:
Just wanted to spread the word about my stolen vehicle this morning. It was reported to the police, wasn’t impounded. Vehicle is a dark blue, 1991 Honda Accord, License Plate #ABE3499. Last seen at the corner of 14th Ave SW and SW Kenyon Street at about 8:30 PM last night. Was stolen sometime between 8:30 PM last night and 7 AM this morning.
As advised by the SPD @GetYourCarBack Twitter feed, call 911 if you see it.
10 PM UPDATE: Ian confirms what Cynthia mentioned in comments – she found his car! He says, “It was found and is in good shape. It was found about two blocks away from where it was taken, around 13th and Elmgrove. No windows broken. I’m guessing that they must have had a key of some sort. They went through the glove box and the trunk but there was nothing of value in either of those. The audio deck wasn’t taken. It being a 1991 Accord makes it an easy target to a certain extent. I am lucky to have made a habit of leaving nothing of value in my car.”
Arbor Heights has for some reason been a hotbed of mail theft, which ratchets up the radar for reports like this: Andi says, “Just wanted to let you know when my husband and I were driving home tonight in Arbor Heights, we saw a man riding a bike south along 30th around 7 pm rummaging around in some mailboxes that are located streetside. I called 911 and gave a description, which wasn’t much since it was dark. The best we could manage was: White, 30s, 6ft tall, wearing a checkered gray winter coat, gray pants, black stocking cap, and a black backpack. Hope they’re able to track this guy down; we’ve had some mail theft problems recently in this area.”
ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:40 AM: With so much construction and utility work around town these days, the crew working outside Salon 08 on SW Genesee east of 42nd might not have drawn a double take this morning. But the reason for its presence was unusual – a hit-run driver crashed into the gas hookup out front and did a little damage to the bricks in the facade. It happened sometime before 4 am – that’s when the Seattle Fire Department was called out to investigate a possible gas leak; the tipster who sent us word of it said the driver would have been a “silver hatchback” that “fled the scene on 3 wheels.” The salon, however, is open for business as usual.
ADDED 6:30 PM: In comments, Rich says the suspected hit-run car ended up near his Lowman Beach-area home. We’ve also received a photo via text and e-mail showing what’s said to be the car in question:
Rich says police told him they knew whose car it was – we are checking to find out if a suspect was arrested.
2 stolen-car reader reports to share, so you can help be on the lookout:
From Fabiola:
My black 1997 Honda Accord 4 door #ALL3193 was stolen Monday night from the Highland Park neighborhood. The front bumper is slightly broken with the front pushed up and the sides hanging.
From Lauri:
I got my car stolen late (Wednesday) night behind Hotwire Coffee in the parking lot. It is a blue Nissan 2001 Xterra, the usual bumper stickers, Luna Park and Hotwire “Obey the Bean.” Plate 244XSB.
If you’ve seen either one, call 911.
(WSB photo: June 3rd raid at 28th/Yancy)
Six months after police raided an indoor marijuana farm in North Delridge, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged its owner with three felonies. This was originally reported in a Seattle Times (WSB partner) story that a WSB reader pointed out to us; we have since obtained the court documents.
After the June 3rd raid at the building alongside Longfellow Creek at 28th/SW Yancy, we spoke by phone with owner Matthew Segal, who told us in that interview that he had been growing 2,500 plants, of which police allowed him to keep 45. At the time, he owned two medical-marijuana dispensaries under the Rain City name, and told us he had been growing at the North Delridge site for three years (records showed he had bought it for a million dollars last March). Police said they also raided two houses, one in the Morgan Junction area.
The charges filed Wednesday against Segal and four others, all described as having no criminal history, allege violations of the state’s Uniform Controlled Substances Act – three charges against Segal, one each against four people alleged to have been working for him, “paid to maintain the marijuana grows, receiving salaries and a share of profit from the sales.”
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports, starting with another case of a stolen holiday decoration:
#1 – Ann-Marie says her 4-year-old daughter is broken-hearted after someone stole her 5-foot-tall decorative snowman from their front yard in Arbor Heights sometime Wednesday. Here’s what “Monroe” the snowman looks like. “Please bring him back. Our daughter is so upset.”
#2 – Chance‘s car was broken into, back window shattered, sometime during the day Wednesday near the 15th/Roxbury Walgreens. “My SUV has an alarm; didn’t deter them.”
#3 – Meredith reports car break-ins north of Morgan Junction last night:
I just wanted to let you know that last night there were two cars (could be more) in my lot on the corner of Juneau and California were broken into and all of its contents stolen. It’s an apartment complex and has happened twice in the last 6 months. They were able to disconnect my stereo system and break in with the doors locked. Just wanted to give a heads up in case anyone else in the neighborhood has any information or also had their cars broken into.
If your car was broken into but nothing taken, please be sure to report it to police anyway so at least there’ll be accurate stats of what’s happening – you can even do it online.
P.S. Right after we published this, Becky sent an alert about suspicious activity on Beach Drive, so we’ve added it:
We live on Beach Drive, near Cormorant (Cove) Park. My husband was up early Wednesday morning (4:30 am) when he saw a couple of people looking in the windows of parked cars, including a UHaul van parked in the parking lot of the condos out on the pier. The individuals hadn’t done anything criminal but were acting suspiciously. He startled them by saying Good Morning, and they quickly moved on. Again there wasn’t anything to report to the police but we thought the neighborhood should be made aware of this early morning activity and keep an eye out for anything else that is unusual.
As we e-mailed back, police *do* encourage calls about suspicious activity – if they are too busy with major incidents to respond, the dispatcher will say so, but do make a call.
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