The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Cleaned Out
Just after 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, a passerby called 911 to report they’d just walked by a fenced parking yard in the 3200 block of 17th Avenue West and noticed the gate was standing open. Several cars in the lot had their doors left open as well.
Police contacted the owner of the lot, who responded and stated the burglary occurred overnight, sometime after 11:15 p.m. The large double chain link gate had been rammed open from the interior. The chain locking the gate had been cut, and the gate and surrounding fence was bent.
The owner said his red pickup truck was stolen, and all of the cars in the lot had been prowled.
A storage building on the north side of the lot had been broken into and ten vintage motorcycles were missing. Also missing was some commercial cookware, a large wooden carving of Buddha and a tool chest. More items from inside the building had been stacked up by the front door, as if the burglar was planning to return.
Quick Burglary
At 11:15 a.m. on Dec. 4, police responded to a burglary at a house in the 2800 block of 30th Avenue West.
The homeowner told police she’d been away from home from 10 to 11 a.m., and when she returned, she noticed broken glass on the floor inside the back kitchen door. She then went outside and called 911.
The suspect had broken a hole in the window of the kitchen door to reach inside and open the door. Several rooms had been rummaged through and a jewelry box containing $15,000 worth of jewelry was taken from the master bedroom.
A few tablets had been collected from different areas in the house and left stacked up in the bedroom.
The victim told police she might have interrupted the burglary. When she got home she stayed in her car for about 10 minutes finishing a phone call before entering her home.
Meter Meddler
A little before 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, police responded to a burglary at a home in the 1300 block of Willard Avenue West.
The homeowner told police he’d gotten a call from his alarm company reporting his power was out. He called a neighbor to confirm and then went home to find somebody had tampered with the house’s electrical meter, cutting off the electricity to the house.
Once police were on scene the victim noticed a small window pane in his back door was broken out.
At first he didn’t think the burglar had entered the home, but when officers suggested he check his family’s electronics and jewelry he noticed a grocery bag was missing as well as some jewelry from an upstairs bedroom.
Police found glove patterns on the meter, back door and surfaces inside the house.
Office Burglary
At approximately 8:15 a.m. on Dec. 11, police responded to an office building in the 200 block of Taylor Avenue North for a burglary.
An employee reported he’d arrived to work that morning and found several doors standing open and a few laptops missing.
Police spoke with the building’s security, who had surveillance video showing a suspect prying an exterior door open at about 9 p.m. the previous evening. He went up to the second floor and pried open the office door.
He was later seen exiting the building carrying a bag of presumably pilfered items.
Hot Dog Thief
Just after 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 7, police responded to a store on Denny Way for a reported shoplifting incident.
Police spotted and detained the suspect in the store’s parking lot.
An employee reported the suspect had been loitering in the parking lot for about 30 minutes before he came in and bought two hot dogs. He exited, then came back in and took another hot dog and a bag of chips and attempted to leave, this time without paying.
When the employee confronted the suspect about paying for the items, he turned around and tried to punch the employee. The employee bear hugged the suspect and a fight broke out. A witness jumped in and separated the two.
Police arrested the suspect and booked him into King County Jail.
Unwanted Guest
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Dec. 7, police responded to a business in the 500 block of First Avenue North after the owner called 911 and reported a suspect had pulled a knife on her.
She stated she’d gone out to the loading dock at the back of her business and found a man sleeping there. She began recording him with her phone when she woke him up and asked him to leave. The suspect said he was leaving, so she stopped recording.
Then the suspect pulled a knife out and said he was going to kill her. She went inside and locked the door.
Police searched the neighborhood for the suspect but didn’t find him.