The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Violent Shoplifter
At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 19, police responded to a store in the 500 block of Queen Anne Avenue North for a robbery.
The store manager told police he’d spotted the suspect in the store pushing a cart up and down the aisles and scooping merchandise off the shelves. He approached the suspect, who immediately became confrontational and accused him of harassment. He left the suspect alone until she made her way towards the front door and attempted to push the cartful of merchandise out. The manager put his hand on the cart and told the suspect she had to pay for the merchandise.
The suspect tried to punch the manager in the face, so he backed off. She again tried to push the cart out of the front door and he again tried to intervene. This time the suspect pulled a pair of scissors out and held it up towards his neck. Fearing for his life, the manager backed away and let the suspect leave.
Responding police searched the neighborhood for the suspect and/or the cart but found neither. The store’s surveillance cameras caught video of the incident, and clear images of the suspect’s face.
Bad Thief
Just before 10 p.m. on Feb. 23, employees of a store in the 100 block of Mercer Street called 911 to report a shoplifter was fighting with loss prevention officers.
Upon arrival, police found the suspect handcuffed lying face down in the loss prevention office. Officers told police the suspect walked out with two bottles of alcohol and when they stopped him he fought.
During the fight, the suspect grabbed a knife off a holster on his pants and held it up above his head.
The suspect was arrested for robbery and booked into King County Jail.
Stolen Keys
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 27, police responded to a burglary at an apartment building in the 2400 block of Thorndyke Avenue West.
The building manager reported the facility room was broken into sometime between 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 and 8 a.m. that morning.
The door to the facility room had been pried, and had fresh pry marks around the door knob and lock. Inside the room a key box on the wall was opened and all the keys had been taken. The keys included the front door key, mailbox keys, storage unit keys and four keys to each of the 16 units.
Weekend Burglary
At 7 a.m. on Feb. 26, police responded to an office in the 600 block of Galer Street.
The front door had been pried open, but was closed when employees arrived at 6:30 a.m.
A safe had been moved from a closet to the floor in the middle of the office, but wasn’t opened. Employees said it was already empty anyway. Some filing cabinets and desks had been rummaged through, and a flashlight was left on the floor with the light still on. A laptop and its charger was missing, but nothing else.
Smashed Window
Just after 1:15 p.m. on Feb. 26, police responded to a medical building in the 300 block of West Republican Street for a burglary.
There was surveillance video of the burglary, which happened at 9:30 p.m. the previous evening. The suspect smashed a window on the east side of the building with a rock. Once inside he prowled the first floor offices and medical suites. He stole two laptop computers and smashed the window of an expensive ornate etched glass door.
Burglary Spree
Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, police responded to a disturbance at a bus stop at Magnolia Boulevard West and West Emerson Street.
A neighbor called 911 to report he could hear two men yelling at each other. When police arrived, they spoke to the men at the bus stop who said they were fine and nothing was wrong.
After officers left, 911 operators got two calls from the neighborhood reporting burglaries wherein the suspect walked into the victims’ homes through an unlocked front door. The description of the suspects matched one of the men at the bus stop.
In the first 911 call, the suspect had opened the door and the victim was standing right inside, so he left. In the second 911 call, the victim said the suspect had opened her front door and grabbed some items from right inside the door: a black purse, a black wallet and some car keys.
While in route to the burglaries an officer spotted the suspect walking towards the entrance of Discovery Park near 39th Avenue West & West Emerson Street. He was carrying a large black woman's purse and a small black woman’s jacket.
Police arrested the suspect and found on him the victim’s car keys and wallet, while his own wallet contained several people’s social security cards. The victim arrived to collect her items. She said the black purse was hers, however she stated a pair of wire cutters and bottle of sparkling cider inside the purse did not belong to her.
The victim from the first 911 call was called to the scene and she confirmed the suspect was the same man who tried to walk into her house. She said she’d been at her front door when he opened it. She said “and you are?” He apologized, shut the door and walked away.
The suspect was booked into King County Jail for two counts of burglary and a misdemeanor weapons charge for a fixed-bladed knife he was carrying.