The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Extra Helpful Police Officer
Just after 8 a.m. on July 6, a person living in the 300 block of Queen Anne Drive called 911 when they returned home to find the main door of their garage had been damaged while they were away. When the responding officer arrived, he inspected the door and determined somebody had attempted to kick it in.
The suspect failed because there were several heavy items stacked behind the door. Although the lock remained intact, the bottom part of the door had been kicked out of the frame and wouldn’t close properly. The officer did some handy work for the resident, fixing the door and re-caulking the doorframe.
Bold Burglar
Just after 11 p.m. on July 6, police responded to a 911 call from the 3400 block of West Blaine Street reporting there was an audible burglary alarm coming from a house on the block. When officers arrived they set up containment around the house with a canine unit.
They found a shattered glass door, and had the dog search the house for any suspects. No one was found inside the house, which had been ransacked, with drawers and closets opened and rummaged through.
The homeowner was out of town, so police spoke with them over the phone, but were not able to determine what was taken in the burglary.
Mysterious Burglary
Just after 7:30 a.m. on July 7, the manager of a business in the 2400 block of Eighth Avenue West called 911 to report the building had been broken into overnight.
The manager said they had first noticed the signs of burglary when they went into their office and found their desk had been moved about three feet away from where it usually sits. Two pieces of baseboard molding had been ripped from the wall and were lying across the desk. Nothing was missing from the office.
The manager walked the building and couldn’t find any entry or exit points for the burglar, and also noted that the burglary alarm had been armed but was never tripped. The last person in the building the night before was a security guard that checked all the doors and windows to make sure they were locked. The security guard said they walked the building at 11:30 p.m. and nothing was out of place. Nothing else was damaged, and nothing was missing.
Welcome Home
At 11:30 a.m. on July 13, a person living in the 100 block of Second Avenue North called 911 to report their apartment was broken into while they was away.
The resident had been out of town from July 8-10. When they got home, they found a broken window screen and several things missing from inside the apartment.
Caught on Camera
Just before 2:30 p.m. on July 11, police responded to a burglary that occurred overnight at a house in the 100 block of Ward Street. The homeowners stated that they had noticed one of their back gates was open that morning. They never leave the gate open because of their small children.
The homeowners then watched the video from their backyard security camera from the previous night. Just before 2 a.m., the suspect approached the house and tried to open each of the exterior doors.
The suspect took a pair of shoes that had been left on a porch, and then went to the detached garage. All of the stuff in the garage had been moved around, but nothing was taken.
When the responding police officer saw the video they immediately recognized the burglar as someone they had arrested in the past. The officer dusted the back railing for fingerprints and found several, which will be ran against the fingerprints of the known suspect that are on file.
Abandoned Home
Just before 3:30 p.m. on July 12, a person called 911 from a house in the 4000 block of 36th Avenue West to report a burglary. The caller said they are a maintenance worker for a bank that foreclosed on the house, which is currently unoccupied.
When they showed up at the house that day to do some work, they found the front door standing open. The caller looked inside and found the kitchen was ransacked and several things were taken.
They said he couldn’t find any signs of forced entry, and believed the burglar must have had the code to the key box to access the house.
Friendly Burglar
Just after 12:30 p.m. on July 18, police responded to a 911 call from the owner of a house in the 2600 block of 11th Avenue West reporting their neighbor had just called them to say a strange man was in their house.
When police arrived they checked inside the house and found no one. The neighbor came out and said they had seen the man come out of the house and walk around to the side, he saw the neighbor and said hello before going back into the house.
Not knowing what to do, the neighbor called the homeowner and told her about the man. While police were en route, the man walked out of the front door holding a black messenger bag and got into a beige SUV parked up the street. The homeowners came home and checked the house, and reported a laptop worth about $1,500 and a messenger bag were missing.