West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
ORIGINAL REPORT: That’s the work van used by A Cleaner Alki, the volunteer group founded by Erik Bell, who’s organized cleanups far beyond Alki – all over the peninsula. Erik emailed us today with a different kind of request – asking you to be on the lookout for the van, which somebody stole early this morning:
2006 Chevy 1500 Work Van
Stolen 1/12/24 around 6 am from Admiral area
White with some peeling paint around front window and door jam. Black bumpers, grille, rear light surround and door handles. No side windows, clear glass in the back doors and cab. Has a gray metal bulkhead behind the cab with circular cutouts. Kind of nondescript otherwise, no exterior graphics. Used for community cleanups and full of EGO brand tools and other gear.
Paper plates A6652308
If you see it, call 911.
UPDATE, 1/16: Erik emailed this morning to say that “Our van was recovered last night at 61st & Stevens with the help of Good Samaritan neighbor Christine and the SPD.” Christine told him she recognized it from the WSB post.
HIGH POINT HATE-CRIME ARREST FOLLOWUP: The 38-year-old man arrested Tuesday remains in the King County Jail. Today we’ve obtained the probable-cause document from a hearing Wednesday at which his bail was set at $50,000. It says police first responded around 12:16 pm Tuesday to a call of a man yelling “racist remarks” at passersby and pointing a gun at them. The document says the suspect, who is described as white, is reported to have used a derogatory term for Black people, yelling from the second floor of an apartment building, including threatening to kill someone. According to the document, he lives in the building where he was arrested near Lanham/Graham. Police say they found “a pellet gun that looks like a real gun.”
ADMIRAL ARRESTS FOLLOWUP: In this story last night, we mentioned two juveniles taken into custody after incidents at Admiral businesses late Wednesday afternoon. We still don’t have full details on what happened, but an SPD spokesperson answered our inquiry:
This incident involved two juveniles ages 11 and 14. The 14-year-old male juvenile was booked into the King County Child and Family Justice Center for burglary and the following charges for property destruction, assault, and unlawful use of weapons were requested. The 11-year-old was identified and released to a legal guardian and charges were requested for burglary.
We’re following up with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
MAILBOX TAMPERING: From a reader:
Wanted to share that today 1-11-24 our community mailbox was pried open and broken into. 2400 block SW Webster St, near the home Depot.
PACKAGE THEFT: The latest reader video is from an Arbor Heights resident:
The victim says this happened Tuesday, and that the thief who drove into her driveway took four packages. She filed a police report, tracking number T24000707.
That’s the poster (full-size PDF here) that local women have been distributing around the area to warn others about a man suspected in multiple incidents of sexual harassment. We first published a reader report about this on December 30th; one of the women involved emailed us the poster today, explaining, “Since emailing you on this originally, we are now up to more than 2 dozen similar reports (majority in West Seattle but some in Burien and White Center as well) of harassment via social media reports – the most recent on Sunday near the West Seattle Farmers Market, which they reported on our original blog post.” (Here’s the link to that comment.) They asked us to again publish a photo of the man’s pickup truck:
And they want you to know that if you have an incident to report, SPD has told them to advise victims to please call it in to 911 and. refer to SPD incident # 24-002311.
Thanks for the tips about a sizable police response in High Point. We got there just as it was wrapping up. Officers at the scene told us that it had to do with a “hate crime that happened hours earlier.” One person was arrested. We asked SPD’s media office for further details; here’s the summary with which they replied:
Officers responded to reports of a male yelling racist remarks at passerby and pointing a gun at them in the 6000 block of Lanham Pl SW. Officers arrived and contacted a victim who stated the suspect threatened to kill them and pointed a gun toward them. Officers contacted the suspect and took him into custody. The suspect will be booked into KCJ [King County Jail] for investigation of hate-crime offense and felony harassment. Officers determined the weapon used was a BB gun.
The response had Lanham Place SW blocked near Graham, according to readers, but it should be clearing now if it hasn’t cleared already.
ADDED WEDNESDAY: The suspect is 38 years old. We hope to find out more about what happened in documentation that should be available after his bail/probable-cause hearing.
9:32 PM: A hit-and-run driver injured Megan‘s son at California/Charlestown tonight, and she’s wondering if there are any witnesses out there: “Someone ran a red light in front of Meeples and hit my son. 6:30 pm Jan 8th … if anyone saw anything, please let us know!!!” We asked if there’s any description, and how he’s doing (the dispatch had described the injuries as “minor”): “I just heard it was a dark vehicle. They hit him hard enough that he flew on to the hood, then the road, so the driver definitely knew that they had hit someone. He’s very shook up and upset with road rash etc.” The SPD case # is 24-007129.
ADDED TUESDAY MORNING: SFD says the 17-year-old victim was treated at the scene and did not need hospitalization.
8:12 PM: When we reported Saturday on the charges against a Burien carjacking suspect arrested in West Seattle on December 29, court documents said the teenager who crashed the stolen car shortly thereafter remained unidentified and in critical condition. According to today’s King County Medical Examiner’s Office list of death investigations, he has died. The KCMEO says he was 14 years old and died from burns suffered when the Suburban caught fire after colliding with a semi-truck at West Marginal and 2nd SW. There are no details such as residence or school. The adult suspect, 20-year-old Edil N. Pineda-Mencia, remains in the King County Jail awaiting arraignment on two felony charges.
10:56 PM: We’ve just learned from a reader that the 14-year-old was a student at Highline High School in Burien.
Four notes in Crime Watch:
CARJACKING SUSPECT CHARGED: Two felony charges are now filed against the man arrested near Harbor/Spokane on December 29 when he bolted from a stopped Suburban that had been carjacked in Burien and tracked to West Seattle. 20-year-old Edil N. Pineda-Mencia is charged with first-degree robbery and attempting to elude police. He and a juvenile accomplice are accused of approaching a woman as she was loading laundry into the Suburban in the 15700 block of 1st Avenue South in Burien, pointing a gun at her and demanding her keys. According to charging documents, a restaurant security camera recorded the carjacking. Meantime, the Suburban had a tracking device. An hour later it pinged to a Top Hat address that turned out to be near Pineda-Mencia’s residence. Deputies didn’t catch up with it in time, but called in the Guardian One helicopter, and half an hour later the vehicle pinged to the 2300 block of Alki Avenue SW. Deputies and SPD officers converged on the area, the helicopter headed that way, and they found the vehicle in the Don Armeni Boat Ramp lot, from which it took off. Heavy traffic at Harbor/Spokane thwarted the escape and deputies say Pineda-Garcia ran from the stopped car, but didn’t get far. Meantime the juvenile moved to the driver’s seat and sped off, crashing the Suburban on West Marginal a short time later. The charging documents say the juvenile had not been identified, and was still in critical condition, four days after the crash, when Burien Police referred the case to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The charging papers also note a BB gun was found outside the burning vehicle. Meantime, Pineda-Garcia – who has an assault conviction, as we reported Wednesday – remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Three reader reports:
STOLEN PICKUP: Zack‘s pickup truck was stolen in SODO but he’s asking people here to watch for it too:
My 1999 Toyota Tacoma was stolen from an employee parking lot in SODO sometime over the past week. Liscense plate # B78655U. Police case number #2024-000236
PACKAGE THEFT: The video and report were sent this evening:
I wanted to share with the community that we had several packages stolen from our porch around 4 pm today in the Gatewood neighborhood.
The video is not very clear, but my teen daughter was home alone and she described the thief as female, dyed red hair, red sweats, white sneakers, black top, and black face mask. Got in a black van or truck. My daughter was upstairs at the time, and opened her window to call out, but was unable to stop them.
CAR PROWLING ON WHEELS: Sent by Beetle:
SUV caught driving by and checking car door handles on 18th Ave in highland Park area. . Set off car alarm a couple cars away from mine and sped off.
Police were called to the Rite-Aid store on California SW this past hour after staff detained two teenage boys who were initially reported to have tried to steal a cash register.
They were transferred into police custody. We’re looking into whether they are the same two teenagers reported in social-media discussions to have been wreaking havoc, particularly in businesses, for months; one reader emailed us about her family being harassed in a restaurant last night and finding out that the teens were known for similar incidents.
UPDATED MONDAY: We checked back with SPD. Here’s how they summarized the incident in response to our inquiry: “Two juvenile males, ages 14 and 16, were arrested for theft. Charges were requested and the juveniles were identified and later released to legal guardians. It appears the two suspects entered the business. One suspect asked a store employee for assistance while the other suspect attempted to steal cash from the register. Both suspects were detained prior to police arrival.”
7:45 PM: SPD and SFD have responded to a stabbing on Olson Place northeast of SW Roxbury. The victim is a 35-year-old man reported to have suffered a stab wound in the chest and is being taken to Harborview. We don’t have clear information on the status of his attacker – at first one person was reported to have been quickly detained, but a suspect description was then circulated. Radio exchanges indicate the attacker may be known to the victim.
8:24 PM: SPD says a suspect is in custody and the victim is in critical condition.
Police investigating a report of possible gunfire have found evidence. They got a report from High Point around 1:55 am that someone heard suspected gunfire and the sound of a car taking off; about 10 minutes later, an officer told dispatch they found “a couple of casings” a few blocks east of the caller, in the 2600 block of SW Brandon. No reports of injuries.
Two weeks after three teenage boys were arrested following three Alki/Beach Drive robbery/carjacking attempts and a police chase, two had detention reviews today. The one we labeled suspect #1, the 14-year-old allegedly driving the stolen car while leading police on that chase, will stay in juvenile detention at the Youth Services Center. The other 14-year-old, suspect #2, is now on electronic home monitoring. Today’s hearing for suspect #3, who is 16, was postponed until next Monday; his detention status will be reviewed then. Each of the three is charged with one count of first-degree attempted robbery and one count of second-degree robbery, plus one auto-theft-related charge. The robbery and attempts were reported to 911 within the span of eight minutes just before 10 pm on December 18th – first 2800 block of Alki, then 59th/Admiral, then the 5700 block of Beach Drive.
Last Friday, we covered a two-scene West Seattle incident that had started with a carjacking in Burien. The stolen vehicle, the Chevrolet Suburban shown above, had been tracked to Alki; when King County Sheriff’s Office deputies/Burien Police moved in, the driver and an accomplice took off. The driver was arrested at Harbor/Spokane after getting out of the car when it was stopped at the light; the juvenile left inside got behind the wheel and took off, crashing into a semitruck at West Marginal/2nd SW a short time later. The juvenile was taken to the hospital in critical condition and we don’t yet know his status, but we did get information today about the suspect who was arrested. He is 20 years old and in the King County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail; tomorrow is the deadline for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to rush-file charges. According to documents from his bail hearing, he is a White Center resident who got out of jail a year ago after being sentenced for stabbing a mini-mart clerk in the Northgate area. Those documents say he stabbed the clerk twice in November 2021 after being told to leave the mini-mart because he wasn’t wearing a mask (a few TV reports ensued). According to the documents from the 2021 case, police found him because a security-camera image was circulated and officers recognized him from previous contacts; they got a warrant and arrested him at the North Seattle apartment where he was living at the time. After a year in jail, he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to nine months, less time than he had already served, so he was released.
Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:
TWICE-STOLEN YUKON: The report and photo are from Linda:
I want to report the theft of my 2002 GMC YukonXL K1500, dark green, license plate number WA BPB8585. It was taken last night – for the second time since August- from the 4400 block of SW Dawson Street (between California Ave. and Erskine Way). Last time it was recovered in Burien in the possession of a person who had been arrested four times in the previous year.
We’ll add the police-report number when we get it.
HIT-RUN WITH PLATE LEFT BEHIND: This report and photos are from Kevin:
My car was the secondary victim of a hit and run last Friday morning on 35th and Austin. The car that did the damage was a 2018 Acura and they were nice enough to leave their license plate.
Awaiting a report number on this too.
(Images from Tails to Astonish)
For the third time in a little over four months, burglars have hit West Seattle’s only comic-book store, Tails to Astonish just south of The Junction. They report it happened around 6:45 this morning and sent these security-camera images:
We woke up this morning with someone having broken into the store. So we will be closed today and tomorrow (Monday/Tuesday) to clean up and do inventory. We will be back open on Wednesday with all the new books! If you recognize them please call us or SPD case number 24-000302.
Last year’s burglaries were on August 23rd and September 30th.
We received both of these reports today from readers who wanted to alert the community:
INDECENT EXPOSURE: The teenage victim’s mother sent this:
A couple of weeks ago, while my 15-year-old daughter was walking home from school by Holy Rosary. A car pulled up along side of her and stopped. She looked at the person and realized that he was masturbating while staring at her. She ran as fast as she could to our house. She described this person as older male 40-50 yo., black hair, dark complexion. The car was light blue and was beat up. My neighbor provided me a photo of the car driving.
My daughter confirmed this was the car. Unfortunately, it doesn’t capture much. I have made a police report. So incredibly horrible for her to be assaulted and so angry that this coward is getting away with this.
The police report number is 23-358983.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT: From the victim:
I wanted to share a harassment event that happened to me on 12/28/23 at approx 3:40 p, I was screamed at by a man (appeared to be in mid-late 40s?, dark hair and skin, slim to medium build) in a truck at the intersection of 35th Ave SW and Thistle who said “man, you’d be fun to [sexually explicit term].”. It appears that this is likely a repeat offender – with something similar happening to my friend who lives at the same intersection with a similar vehicle last year. It’s highly concerning that this has happened again and the things being said are increasingly explicit and want other women to be aware of this person and vehicle.
(Photo from 12/28/23 incident)
Color: Black, Model: Maybe Silverado, Year: Older, Type: Truck
In the 2022 event, the victim reported that the man in the truck parked and watched her mow, then showed that he was recording her on his phone, and hollered (in crude language) that he would watch the video and gratify himself. When the recent victim posted on a social-media site earlier today, she said, another person commented, “This same person shouted something similar to me on Roxbury and 29th on Wednesday around 3:30 pm.” The recent victim’s police-report number is 23-373893.
12:17 AM: Police are investigatng a reported shooting at Delridge/Findlay. One man is reported wounded, “shot in the back” per SFD dispatch. No suspect description yet except “male in a red shirt.” Updates to come.
12:26 AM: Police believe the shooting happened in front of the Shell station (which is closed for the night); they told dispatch they’ve found a casing. They’re also closing Delridge Way at the scene.
12:34 AM: The victim, a 20-year-old man, is being taken to Harborview by SFD medics. Police, meantime, now believe they’re looking for two suspects; a K-9 team is helping search.
12:47 AM: If you live in the area, you’ll hear police PA announcements and siren “chirping,” which is meant as a warning to possibly hiding suspect(s) that they’re nearby with a dog.
1:34 AM: So far, no success. Meantime, the street is open again.
6:22 PM: According to radio exchanges between dispatch and police, Guardian One is over the Don Armeni Boat Ramp area because it’s assisting King County Sheriff’s Office deputies with tracking suspects in a Burien-area carjacking. Avoid the area.
6:29 PM: King County and SPD units are now pursuing the vehicle, described as the gold Suburban that was stolen in the carjacking, southbound on Harbor.
6:31 PM: According to radio exchanges, the vehicle is still on the move but one suspect is in custody at or near Harbor/Spokane.
6:39 PM: The stolen vehicle is now reported to be stolen in a fiery crash at West Marginal Way/2nd SW. Law-enforcement officers and the helicopter were reported to have lost track of the vehicle before this happened. At least one person may still have been in the vehicle, which is now reported to be engulfed in flames.
(Image from nearest SDOT camera)
6:44 PM: SPD says SFD is telling them no one is in the vehicle. … The Suburban reportedly collided with a semitruck, though we don’t know if it was moving or parked. … And now police are saying the other suspect IS in the vehicle.
7:07 PM: One person is going to be taken to Harborview, per SFD. Note that streets are closed and buses (routes 131 and 132) rerouted in this area because of the crash investigation.
7:35 PM: Above, that’s the Suburban, in a photo sent by our crew just after they arrived. And this is the semi:
7:51 PM: We and a few other media crews are awaiting an SPD public-information officer. Meantime the officers and firefighters at the scene are awaiting an SDOT incident-response team to clean up an extensive fluid slick and other debris.
7:56 PM: The official briefing hasn’t happened yet but SFD spokesperson David Cuerpo is there too and has told us that the 53-year-old truck driver was checked out and OK, while the driver of the stolen car was in critical condition when transported.
8:44 PM: Both SFD’s Cuerpo and SPD spokesperson Officer Brian Pritchard have briefed us. The only major details beyond what we’ve reported above are that the first suspect, (updated) 21 years old, was arrested when he jumped out of the stolen vehicle at Harbor/Spokane; the person left behind in the vehicle, a juvenile, decided to drive off, and that’s the person who crashed the Suburban and was pulled from the wreckage.
10:31 PM: Police at the scene just told dispatch that the streets are cleared and reopened.
We’re catching up with the files in some long-running criminal cases. First: A reader tipped us that the case of a quadruple shooting at Alki Beach in June 2021, killing one person and injuring three others, has ended in a plea agreement.
(June 2021 photo by David Hutchinson)
Milton Arnold III of Des Moines, now 21, originally was charged with second-degree murder for killing 22-year-old Tilorae Shepherd of Federal Way and two counts of first-degree assault for wounding a man and woman (the fourth victim was a friend of Arnold, hit accidentally). The gunfire followed a confrontation over fireworks, as detailed in our first report on the original charges. At some point Shepherd reportedly displayed a gun but did not pull it. Arnold claimed he fired in self-defense, and prosecutors cited that as the reason for reducing the charges; he pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault. He had no prior convictions, and court documents show that last month King County Superior Court Judge Ken Schubert sentenced him to a total of four and a half years in prison. That will include credit for time served since his arrest two and a half years ago.
For a second consecutive night, police are investigating gunfire in Highland Park. They responded to a call from someone who reported seeing someone fire a gun out a car window in the 8100 block of 8th SW around 8:23 pm. The caller then said they found at least one shell casing while police were on the way. No injuries are reported; the only description so far is that the person fired toward a building from the passenger side of an “early model sedan” that was last seen heading west on SW Elmgrove. This is about half a mile south of where last night’s gunfire happened.
If you happen onto an abandoned electric scooter, it might belong to Joel, who emailed to report: “I today had my Nami Burn-E 2 Max electric scooter stolen from the South side bike rack of the Admiral Junction Safeway across from Hiawatha park at approximately 12:40 PM. It is black and weighs about 100 lbs. There is a security code for starting it.”
1:33 AM: After 911 calls reporting suspected gunfire near 12th/Holden about 15 minutes ago, police have found evidence in an alley. Officers have told dispatch they’ve located at least six casings. … A nearby resident also is reporting two bullet holes in their apartment. No injuries reported so far.
2:10 AM: SPD says “multiple units were damaged.”
Two reader reports:
STOLEN BACKPACK: If you find one, it might be the one to which Brian referred in this note: “I want to report a stolen backpack with valuables taken from my friend’s car on Beach Drive north of Me Kwa Mooks as she was moving a recycle bin from the driveway.. If found, call 206 992-7219 … This happened yesterday, December 26, at about 3:45 pm and was reported to Seattle Police already.” (We’re awaiting descriptive information.)
APPARENTLY ABANDONED BICYCLE: John says this bike was left against a North Admiral utility pole:
Let us know if it’s yours.
Reader report from W:
Just want to report mail theft at 4866 Beach Dr SW – doors completely ripped off and mail gone :/ I’m reporting it to USPS.
If this happens to you – you can file reports online with the US Postal Inspection Service.
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