The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Thorough Burglar
Just before 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21, police responded to a 911 call from an alarm company reporting multiple alarm trips at a house in the 2500 block of 42nd Avenue West. There was a broken window on the south side of the house, likely where the burglar entered. Responding officers searched the inside of the house and found it empty. They contacted a family member of the homeowner, and learned the homeowner was out of the country. A family member responded and said, among other things, a safe was taken off a wall in a bedroom. A chair had been moved to the top of a bed. Officers contacted the alarm company, who reported multiple trips of the alarm system over about an hour of time. The burglar had ripped alarm sensors off the walls along with the alarm panel and speakers.
Unwanted Visitor
Just before 2 a.m. on Oct. 20, a man living in a house in the 2500 block of Perkins Lane West called 911 after a burglar entered his house through an unlocked basement door. The victim said he’d been sleeping in the downstairs bedroom when he heard the bedroom door open. He yelled, "Who's there?" and heard someone say, "Oh, sorry." The suspect then ran out of the bedroom and exited the downstairs door he’d entered the house through. The victim got out of bed and found the downstairs double doors wide open and the suspect nowhere to be seen. He told police he thinks the burglar went up the stairs towards Perkins Lane. After calling 911, the victim started looking around his back yard and found a heavy metal gate located on the steps near the street had been taken off the hinges. He also noticed a garage door he’d left on an outside table was gone and his garage door was half way open. The canine unit came to the house and tried to track the suspect down. They followed the suspect’s scent south, but the trail soon went cold. The victim also reported receiving some strange phone calls that evening, the last one coming at about 12:30 a.m.
Car Prowl
At approximately 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 20, police responded to an apartment building in the 200 block of Queen Anne Avenue North after a woman called 911 to report her car was broken into. The break in occurred in the building’s secured parking lot at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 17. The victim knew this because the building manager had watched the surveillance camera footage. The video shows the suspect using a crow bar to break into the garage and then spending over 30 minutes checking vehicles. There was a second car broken into but the owner wasn’t available when police were on scene. The victim reported a pair of headphones and a pair of sunglasses stolen from the middle console of her car.
The suspect seen on camera was wearing a distinctive lime green traffic vest. The property manager said he he saw the suspect an hour before police arrived but he got on a bus.