Kam Yee wrote to tell us:
Our neighbor’s and our house both got broken into last week. I wanted this group to know because both houses were robbed midday when we stay at home moms took our baby out for errands. Our homes are near Macpherson’s Fruit Stand and Maple School. I don’t want to be a fear mongerer, but thought I should warn you as the robbers seem to target during broad daylight when you take baby out for a few hours. During the couple of hours we were out, they have broke in through the basement window and effectively stole our electronics and jewelry. We suspect multiple accomplices watching until we left the house and had a lookout waiting for our return. Luckily we were not hurt.
The police reminded us the if you have any reasons to believe you have or had intruders to get out of the house and call 911. Wait outside or at a neighbor’s even if it takes the officers a long time to arrive. You should never search your house without an armed officer.
This safety warning is a good thing to keep in mind. I admit that if I came home to signs of a break-in I’d be tempted to go in and look around the house, but this is a Bad Idea. Call 911 first.
Kam, thanks for emailing us; we are sorry your house was broken into, but very glad no one was hurt.
I don’t know if it is the same group, but the thieves that broke into my parents’ home (in the middle of the day) worked out of a van without windows (or blocked out windows), so be aware of cars that aren’t normally parked in your neighborhood, especially if they are larger vehicles with blacked or blocked windows that will hold several people.
There have been a number of break-ins and I found a map here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=107398592337461190820.000449fcf97ff8bfbe281&ll=47.578494,-122.308216&spn=0.020728,0.029569&z=15
Yes, that is my map. 🙂 It’s not currently up-to-date, though. I mainly posted it because we had a rash of break-ins all at once a few months ago and we were trying to find a pattern.
The same thing happened to two of my neighbors some few months ago, near 33rd Ave S and S Renton. It happened during the day when a stay-at-home Mom stepped out. Broke in through a side door. One of those neighbors was actually victimized twice; the perps came back for the flat-screen TV.
If this should happen to you, it’s important to tell the 911 operator that you think someone may still be in your home unless you absolutely know that they aren’t. It will help them prioritize the call and increase their chances of actually catching the theives. (Not that the SPD does a great a job of catching anyone…)
Yesterday morning (Wednesday, October 29) similar thing happened on the 3700 block of 13th Ave. So. Suspects in black vehicle on 13th and So. Court exactly has Mike Cheney stated on the BH listserve.
Will be talking with neighbors tonight. Appeared neighbors were leaving their house to run an errand and saw a suspicious vehicle with 3 males in it; they decided to drive around the blocks and came back, parked a bit away and watched these males break into their house. 9-1-1 was called, but suspects got away.
My house on 18th and Plum was broken into Halloween night, it was the 2nd house on the block broken into within 24 hours here. They took a lot so had to have a car and were pretty bold, spending much time in the house playing video games and eating.
FYI, this area should be aware of this activity.