The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Interrupted Burglary
At approximately 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 9, the owner of a house in the 3000 block of 35th Avenue West called 911 to report an attempted burglary at his house.
He said his wife had unknowingly scared off the burglar when she returned home at about 6:30 p.m. that evening. He later checked the surveillance video from cameras around his house and realized there’d been an attempted burglary.
The suspect is seen on camera entering the property through the front yard. He walked around the perimeter of the property and removed a screen from a back window. It was about that time when the man’s wife came home and scared the suspect away.
He hopped over the back fence, which leads to an alley. The window was locked and the suspect wasn’t able to get into the house, but he did damage the screen.
The victim estimated it would cost about $40 to repair the screen.
Police had just responded to a similar incident about a block away. The suspect in that incident broke into the house by forcing open a back window.
Trendy Thief
At approximately 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 20, police responded to a residential burglary at a house in the 500 block of West Barrett Street.
The burglary had occurred the previous day — Jan. 19 — sometime between 9 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. The suspect forced a rear downstairs door open. A pair of women’s leather boots and a turntable were stolen.
The victim said the house wasn’t ransacked, but it appeared the suspect did look through a few closets.
Quarter Thief
Shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, the manager of an apartment building in the 3200 block of Eighth Avenue North called 911 to report someone had broken into the laundry room overnight.
The building’s surveillance cameras caught the incident on video. The suspect damaged the laundry machine’s coin slots in an attempt to steal quarters.
Construction Site Burglary
At approximately 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 22, police responded to a burglary at a construction site in the 2100 block of Ninth Avenue West.
The contractor in charge told police someone broke into the site over the weekend and burglarized a secured construction trailer and two large tool storage boxes.
Somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of tools were stolen, including a construction laser.
Stolen Fanny Pack
At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 22, police responded to a burglary at a business in the 2900 block of Third Avenue West.
An employee told responding officers she’d reviewed the building’s security cameras after discovering the burglary and determined the suspect climbed an external fence at about 4:25 a.m. that morning, and came into the building through an unlocked loading dock door on the south side.
Once inside, the suspect went to the employee locker room and stole an employee’s fanny pack. It looked like he also injected narcotics while in the locker room, because there was blood and broken hypodermic needles on the floor.
Parking Garage Trespass
Just before 6 a.m. on Jan. 22, the staff of a building in the 200 block of Second Avenue North called 911 to report someone had broken into the ticket booth in the parking garage.
As police were responding, an employee called back and said the suspect had left the garage and was last seen walking northbound. The employee told police he’d been making his rounds this morning to open the building up for business employees to come in when he saw legs hanging out of the ticket booth window and then slide all the way in.
After he called 911 the suspect left the premises. There was no damage to the ticket booth and it didn’t appear the suspect had taken anything.
Intruder
Just after 4:15 p.m. on Jan. 23, the owners of a house in the 3200 block of 21st Avenue West called 911 to report they’d caught an intruder in their house and were currently detaining her while waiting for police.
One of the victims said he’d believed he was home alone when he heard noise coming from one of the upstairs bedrooms. He called his stepsons, and they went upstairs and found the suspect in the bedroom.
The room was disheveled with the contents of shelves and dresser drawers strewn around, as if the suspect was searching for something.
There were no signs of forced entry to the house. In order to get into the house the suspect would have had to climb the property’s surrounding chain-link fence, climb on to the second-floor wooden deck and then enter the room through the rear sliding door.
The suspect was arrested and booked into King County Jail for burglary.
Loud Burglar
Shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 24, the residents of a house in the 200 block of Hayes Street called 911 to report they’d just caught a burglar in their house.
They said they’d been sleeping upstairs when they heard a loud crashing sound from downstairs. When they went downstairs to investigate, they saw a suspect on the sidewalk just outside the house holding onto the victim’s bicycle and work backpack.
While the victim was calling 911 the suspect got onto the bike and was last seen riding westbound on Hayes Street. The victim reported his $12,000 racing bike, work backpack, work laptop and headphones were stolen.
Police were unable to determine how the suspect got into the house.
A palm print was found on the bike rack and an umbrella that the suspect left was found just outside the house.
Storage Unit Break In
Just after 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 27, police responded to a burglary at an apartment in the 600 block of West Galer Street.
The victim told police he’d been notified by a neighbor that his storage closet — located in the basement of the apartment building — had been broken into. He said he believed the burglary occurred between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, and that the suspect gained entry by a door that was left open. The storage closet's padlock was cut with bolt cutters.
The victim reported the following items stolen: a jacket, a backpack, a sleeping bag, sunglasses, binoculars and a GPS. He estimated the value of his stolen items to be about $1,500.
Inconspicuous Burglary
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, police responded to a burglary at an apartment in the 300 block of Queen Anne Avenue North.
The victim told police she’d been away from home for a little over a month, from Dec. 25 until Jan. 28.
When she got home she found her front door was unlocked. She said the morning of Jan. 29 she received a voicemail telling her that some of her property was found, including a cell phone case. She checked her apartment and noticed her wallet and a coat were missing. She also remembered that the cell phone case had been in the center console of her car, which was parked in the rear of the building.
There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment or car. The victim said she had a spare key to her car but does not recall where she had left it.