The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct. They represent the officer's accounts of the events described.
Feisty Shoplifter
Just before 10 p.m. on June 10, police responded to a 911 call from a store in the 100 block of Mercer Street, where store security had a detained a shoplifter.When they arrived the security officer told police they had watched the suspect steal a knife from the store, concealing it in his pants pocket.
The officer stopped the suspect outside and asked him to come back in the store, to which the suspect replied, “How about I take this knife I stole and kill you?” A brief struggle ensued wherein the suspect swung a beer bottle at the security officer’s head, but the officer tackled and subdued the suspect. Witnesses gave similar accounts of the incident, and there was security camera footage as well.
Because the suspect threatened to kill the security officer, and tried to hit him with the beer bottle, he was charged with robbery.
Propped Door
At 3:15 p.m. on June 19, a resident of an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 10th Avenue West called 911 to report that their storage unit in the building had been broken into.
The victim told officers that some tenants had left a door propped open and sometime between noon and 3 p.m. an intruder entered the building and broke into their storage unit in the laundry room.
The burglar unscrewed the hinges of the storage unit’s plywood door and rummaged through the unit. It appeared that nothing was missing. Responding officers gave the resident some security tips to pass on to the landlord.
The resident also gave police the description of a strange man their children said they have seen going into the laundry room sometimes.
Stolen Jewelry
A little before 12:30 p.m. on June 17, police responded to a burglary at a house in the 2600 block of West Lynn Street. The homeowner told police the burglary happened sometime between 11 a.m. the day before, and 10 a.m. that morning.
The homeowner said they believed the burglar entered through a door that wasn’t properly locked. The burglar rummaged through several rooms, and the homeowner said they weren’t sure what was missing, outside of some silverware and jewelry.
Stolen Tools
Just after 7 p.m. on June 17, police responded to a burglary that occurred sometime overnight at a house under construction in the 1500 block of Magnolia Boulevard West.
The victim of the burglary is a construction worker who is working on the house, who left his tools — including drills, a circular saw, tool belt and radio — inside the house. The worker said they left and locked the house around 6:30 p.m. the previous night and when they returned at 8:30 a.m. that morning, the tools were gone.
The worker said there weren’t any signs of break in around the house, and suspects the burglar somehow got the code to the key box on the front porch.
Coat Thief
On June 16 just after 8 p.m., officers responded to a burglary at an apartment in the 1400 block of Queen Anne Avenue North. The victim’s storage locker had been broken into and a leather jacket and a fur coat were stolen. The fur coat was a family heirloom belonging to the victim’s grandmother.
The victim said when they went downstairs to access the locker, they noticed the lock was on wrong and had to force the locker open. They also said there was a burglary to another tenant’s storage unit in March, and the victim hadn’t been to his storage unit since then.
Late Alarm
At about 11:30 p.m. on June 17, police responded to an alarm trip at a house in the 1600 block of Ninth Avenue West. Police arrived at the house at about the same time as the homeowners.
They found that a glass pane of the dining room door was shattered by a rock. The burglar took $400 in cash, and two pieces of jewelry worth about $50 from an upstairs bedroom before exiting through the front door, tripping the alarm on the way out.
Stolen Clubs
At 1 p.m. on June 18, officers responded to an apartment building on Florentia Street. A burglar pried open the door to the tenant’s storage units, and cut the lock off one of the units, stealing a set of golf clubs. Responding police found fingerprints inside the storage unit.
Unexpected Guest
Just after 8 a.m. on June 19, a woman living in the 300 block of First Avenue North called 911 after waking up to find a strange man standing at the end of her bed. She awoke to the man standing at the end of her bed staring at them, holding his pants in his hand.
After he greeted her by saying, “How you doing, baby?” she started screaming, and the suspect exited the apartment and left in an unknown direction. The victim told police she may have left the front door unlocked, and there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment.
Responding police checked the neighborhood for the suspect, but didn’t find him.