The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Prolific Shoplifter
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Jan. 27, police responded to a 911 call from a store in the 500 block of Queen Anne Avenue North reporting a shoplifter had just pulled a knife on an employee.
The suspect had left the scene by the time officers arrived, but they spoke with employees who said the suspect is a prolific shoplifter who has been criminally trespassed from the store on several occasions.
That day, the suspect was spotted in the store, and was approached by an employee and told to leave. The suspect said nothing in response, instead pulling out and opening a switch blade. The employee backed away and called 911, while the suspect continued making his way through the store, before leaving without paying for anything.
As police were leaving the scene the suspect returned to the store. Employees called them back and as they were returning, they spotted the suspect quickly walking out while an employee ran out after him pointing him out to the police.
The suspect was arrested and police recovered four candles and a soap dispenser from his drawstring backpack. The suspect had a warrant out for theft, and was booked into King County Jail for robbery for pulling a knife on the employee.
Police reviewed the suspect’s arrest history, and found he had been arrested for numerous thefts and robberies in Seattle including two robberies in December. Employees of the store he’d robbed in this incident said they were afraid he would come back, as he’d already been criminally trespassed several times and continued to return.
Overnight Prowler
Just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 28, police responded to a condominium in the 600 block of West Olympic Place for a burglary.
Officers found a crowd of residents gathered in the building’s parking garage where two cars had been prowled. The building manager had reviewed the security camera footage and found that the suspect picked the lock of the front door.
He is seen on video working on the door for about five minutes before entering. Once inside, he wandered around the building before going to the parking garage.
He spent about 20 minutes in the parking garage prowling two cars and rummaging through some storage containers in the garage. Only one pair of sunglasses was taken.
Shoplifter With A Knife
A little before 3 p.m. on Feb. 2, employees at a store in the 500 block of Mercer Street called 911 to report a shoplifter had pulled a knife on them.
They said they’d stopped the shoplifter after she exited the store without paying for about $60 worth of merchandise. At first she complied by handing over the stolen merchandise, but when the employees asked her to come back inside the store with them she pulled out a knife and threatened them.
The employees backed off and let the suspect leave without further incident.
Desperate to Enter
A little after 3 p.m. on Feb. 1, the manager of an apartment building in the 2500 block of Dexter Avenue North called 911 to report an intruder in the building was refusing to leave.
The suspect is the girlfriend of the son of a resident who is recently deceased. The building manager reported that the suspect has substance abuse problems and was not allowed to be on the premises.
That day, she broke into the building by either yanking the front door open or following a resident in. The building manager spotted her and told her to leave. Instead, she broke open the case for a fire extinguisher in the hallway and tried to use the fire extinguisher as a battering ram to bust open her boyfriend’s mother’s apartment door.
By the time police arrived the suspect had already damaged the apartment’s front metal French doors. The doors were dented and gouged, with a door handle and other parts broken off. The fire extinguisher was damaged and its case was destroyed. The fire extinguisher and both doors would need to be replaced.
The building manager estimated the repairs would cost almost $1,300.
The suspect was arrested for burglary and malicious mischief and was criminally trespassed from the building.
Kicked In Door
Shortly after 9 p.m. on Feb. 2, police responded to a burglary at a house in the 2500 block of 27th Avenue West.
The victim told police the burglary took place between 6 a.m. that morning and 8:45 p.m., while he was at work. The burglar removed a screen from a back basement window, but when the window didn’t open, they kicked the door next to it open. The door had a clear boot print, and it appeared it took two or three tries to get the door open.
The burglar rummaged through the house but the only think taken was a vintage gun from the top of a safe. The victim said the gun was a ..22 caliber from the 1920s that his mom gave him.
Strange Intrusion
At approximately 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 2, police responded to a 911 call reporting a possible burglary in progress at a house in the 100 block of Lee Street.
The victim told 911 operators she was upstairs in her house with her two children and she’d heard a loud noise downstairs, and the alarm was going off.
Responding police found broken windows on the rear door, the door ajar and a fist-sized rock on the staircase. They checked the inside of the house and found no suspects.
The victim said she’d been asleep in an upstairs bedroom with her kids when she woke up to a loud noise and the alarm going off.
She walked through the house with police and found several things were moved around. A nightlight from downstairs had been left on the kitchen counter. It had blood and fingerprints on it. Three orange patio furniture cushions that didn’t belong to the victim were found on the living room floor. A vacuum that had been on the stairs just inside the door that was broken was underneath the cushions. There was a bloodstain on a roll of paper towels, and the towel holder rod was missing. And the alarm control panel in the basement was damaged from an impact. On the front porch police found a plastic toy rake that didn’t belong to the victim.
Police set up a canine containment and searched the area for the suspect but weren’t able to find them.