The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Unsecured back door
At 5:57 p.m. on July 9, a woman in the 4300 block of 36th Avenue West called 9-1-1 to report a home burglary that had occurred within the last two hours.
She and her husband left the house at 4:30 p.m., leaving the back door open. The two returned home at 5:30 p.m. to find the house ransacked.
Drawers and cabinets were open, and their contents dumped onto the floor.
The following items were stolen: an iPad, an iPod, a laptop computer and various antique coins.
The victim said the stolen coins had been stored in a glass vase on a bedroom dresser. When they arrived home, the vase was empty and sitting on the kitchen table.
Bent frame
At 9:46 a.m. on July 4, a man in the 1700 block of Fifth Avenue North called 9-1-1 to report that a window screen had been bent.
He said it had not been like that when he went to sleep.
He reported another tenant’s car was prowled on the same night.
Summer camp burglar
On July 7 at 7:57 a.m., police responded to Seattle Pacific University after 9-1-1 calls reported an overnight burglary at a summer camp taking place there.
Sometime overnight, someone broke into the summer camp rental space and stole the cashbox, which contained $300.
SPU security’s surveillance video shows the burglar scaling a wall and climbing in through an open window, then walking away from the area with the cashbox.
Further surveillance video shows the burglar entering some bushes and dumping items out of her backpack to make room for the cashbox.
Police recovered the items that were dumped from the backpack, which included clothes, a small handbag, a credit card wallet and a folding knife. The wallet contained multiple gift cards and credit cards.
Bad customer service
On July 7, employees of a restaurant in the 100 block of Mercer Street called 9-1-1 to report a burglary that had happened the day before.
Police viewed surveillance video of the incident, which shows a man entering the restaurant before it opened. The front door was open, but no employees were around.
The suspect entered and exited several times, making his way to the office, where he stood behind an employee and watched her put a cash bag into the safe without closing the safe door.
The man left and then returned at 1:22 p.m., passing employees who didn’t confront him. He went to the office, took the bag of cash, which contained $220 and then left through the back door.
No one noticed the suspect throughout the incident; he was only discovered by reviewing surveillance video.
Armed robbery
On July 9 at 5:55 p.m., a man walked into a business in the 4200 block of Gilman Avenue West and displayed a gun tucked in his waistband. He then demanded money from the cash register. The store’s owner handed him about $100 in cash.
The robber fled from the store, and a bicyclist saw him running south to West Elmore Street, then west on Elmore to 26th Avenue West, where a van was waiting with a driver inside.
The robber jumped into the front passenger seat, and the van went down to Gilman and headed southbound.
The witness gave responding police descriptions of the suspects, the van and a partial license plate number.
Jewelry heist
At 5:41 p.m. on July 5, police responded to a 9-1-1 call reporting a burglary that had happened over the holiday weekend.
The victims, who live in the 2600 block of 43rd Avenue West, were gone for the weekend. They returned to find their home ransacked, with drawers pulled out and the back door damaged.
They told police their security cameras recorded video of the burglar, who was seen entering and exiting the house several times, carrying items every time he exited. The man made several trips through the backyard, toward Magnolia Boulevard, between 9:18 and 11:24 p.m. on July 4.
The back door and door jam had pry marks indicating it had been pried open.
Two jewelry boxes were taken, the second of which was worth $100 and contained a $500 cameo brooch. Additional jewelry was taken from an armoire; its empty drawers were found in the living room.
The victims estimated more than $3,000 worth of items were stolen during the incident.