Category Archives: Crime

Do you recognize this bald spot?

This plaid-wearing person was captured on camera trespassing and acting suspicious in a North Beacon Hill yard.

Todd, a neighbor who lives at 14th and College, wrote to tell us that on Wednesday his security camera recorded a plaid-shirted guy who was trespassing on his property and peering at his yard. This was near the time that a garden hose was stolen from his next-door neighbor’s yard, so Todd told us “I am tagging this as ‘the plaid prowler.'” Unfortunately, the camera didn’t record the theft and it is unclear whether the plaid-clad man was involved or just coincidentally caught on camera.

This is the same area that has had trouble in the last couple of years with theft of plants. Last year some neighbors managed to catch at least one plant thief in action.

Shooting at 14th and Hinds

Details from news partner The Seattle Times:

Medics responded Tuesday afternoon to a South Seattle address where a man was shot to death, said Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Dana VanderHowen. The victim was reportedly shot outside when he was shot by a woman who left in a car.

Homicide detectives were responding to the address in the area of 14th Avenue South and South Hinds Street, said Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson. The shooting was reported at 2:52 p.m., VanderHowen said.

Later updated to:

A 38-year-old man was shot to death in South Seattle Tuesday afternoon. Police believe the shooter may be the man’s girlfriend.

Witnesses told police that they heard gunshots and then saw a man on the road. A woman was seen kneeling over the man before she jumped into the passenger seat of a waiting car, described as a dark-colored Honda or Toyota.

The car was last seen headed west on South Spokane Street toward Interstate 5.

The Times later added that the woman suspected of the shooting then shot herself in Tukwila, while alone in a car. Police say that she has been taken to Harborview with life-threatening injuries.

KIRO has more information here. KOMO has some information as well, including the suspect’s name, in the video. (A correction, though — 14th and Hinds is not “near ‘The Jungle.'”)

SeattlePI.com comments that this is the eighth homicide in Seattle this year, and the first since June 6. They’ve also posted video of the police briefing at YouTube:

Read more at the Times.

Police investigate the shooting at 15th and Hinds. Photo by Joel Lee.

(4:50 pm: Headline changed to correct street, P-I links added, and photo added. — Ed.)

(5:50 pm: Added Times follow-up. — Ed.)

(6:15 pm: Added KIRO and KOMO links. — Ed.)

Parked perv problem on North Beacon

Neighbor Lina wrote to warn us about an unsavory individual on North Beacon Hill. She saw a white van SUV pull over in front of her and park near Daejeon Park. The windows on both sides of the van SUV were rolled down, and inside was a white, baseball-cap-wearing, masturbating male. When Lina returned with a camera to get a picture of the van’s SUV’s license plate for the police, it was gone. She reports that the license plate started with a B and ended with an H.

(5:00 pm: Article updated to correct description of the vehicle. — Ed.)

Alemu attackers sentenced

Two of the men who attacked Dawit Alemu last June at 13th and Holgate near Beacon Hill International School were sentenced yesterday for their roles on the attack. Jaynus Speed and Kenneth Fisher pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and first-degree attempted robbery. Speed was sentenced to three years and Fisher to two years and eight months in prison. Last September a third attacker, Justin Phillips, was sentenced to ten years in prison after he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and first-degree attempted robbery. A fourth attacker who, like Speed, Fisher, and Phillips, was photographed by a nearby witness has not been found.

KING5.com has a report including comments from Alemu, who has made a remarkable recovery from the severe injuries he received in the attack, which occurred one day before his community college graduation.

12th Avenue apartment building a “nuisance property”?

Discussion has been hot and heavy on the BAN mailing list lately about an apartment building at 1308 12th Avenue South. Neighbors in the area have complained of drug dealing, violence, and a slum-quality building with broken windows, an unfinished room, and garbage strewn everywhere.

Craig Thompson recently wrote about an assault at that location and the history of trouble at the building. Neighbors are now hoping that the Chronic Nuisance Property Ordinance will enforce changes at 1308. On the komonews.com website, Rose Egge points out that the police have nine documented complaints of crimes committed at 1308 in the last 60 days. If three of these are confirmed and qualify under the ordinance, further action could be taken. Egge followed up with a story today reporting that police and representatives from the Department of Planning and Development will be meeting with the owner of 1308 tomorrow, but police aren’t yet pursuing this as a “nuisance property” under the CNPO.

If you live nearby, please post your experiences living near 1308. For the rest of you, are there other buildings on Beacon Hill that you feel qualify as “chronic nuisances”?


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Melee at Saigon Nice, gunshots in the Jungle

Map showing the locations of the two disturbancesJonah Spangenthal-Lee of SeattleCrime.com reports on a melee that occurred last night at Saigon Nice, 4864 Beacon Avenue South. In the brawl, several victims received stab wounds, probably from broken beer bottles, and other victims received impact injuries from chairs, fists, and the like. There were at least six victims, and according to the Seattle Police report, “a lot of blood inside” the club. Some witnesses were less than helpful, according to Spangenthal-Lee, having “apparently developed what one officer referred to as ‘temporary amnesia.'”

This is not the first occurrence of trouble at Saigon Nice. We reported on a stabbing incident there in November 2008, which followed another altercation earlier that week, and questioned then whether the establishment had been following the terms of the Good Neighbor Agreement they signed earlier that year with the North Beacon Hill Council.

Neighbors in North Beacon noticed police activity last night as well, including the Guardian One helicopter overhead and a larger number of police cruisers near 11th and Judkins. As Rose Egge reported in the KOMO blog this morning, there was a report of shots fired in The Jungle around 10:00 pm. Craig Thompson posted to the BAN list that it sounded like a semi-automatic firing three short bursts. Witnesses saw two black men and a woman get into a silver car and drive away; police found shell casings in the area, but no suspects or victims.

Crime notes: Flashings continue on North Beacon Hill

There have been more recent sightings of the serial masturbator/flasher in the North Beacon Hill area — at least eight reported incidents so far, we’re told. He appears to still be driving the newer-looking navy blue [Chevy?] truck with tinted windows as previously described, and is obscuring the license plate in an attempt to elude identification. If you spot a truck matching this description, especially if you notice the license plate is hidden, please consider notifying 911.

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Aaron G. was robbed Sunday night. He wrote in with this account and asked us to share it:

I was on my way home from the Valero store around 11:30 pm on Sunday night when two guys approached me from behind. They asked for my bags repeatedly before shoving me and demanding that I give it to them. Once handing it over, they started screaming at me, asking what else I had on me. They reached into my jacket pocket, grabbed my cigarettes, took my wallet from my back pocket, and ran off as a car approached. I chased them down to the Shell station where they jumped into a car waiting with a few other guys in it and they peeled off.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT! This happened near 15th and College. They were young, maybe 18 or 19 years old, black men, Ethiopian accents. Hooded sweatshirts, and they seemed nervous.

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Drive-by shooting near Shaffer and Morgan, April 17th — The Seattle Times, BHB news partner

Neck chains attract robberies in Rainier Beach and at Cleveland High — SeattleCrime.com

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Recent burglary activity from police reports, bhnw.org scanner logs, and the mailing lists:

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A car was stolen from Chris B.’s house near 18th and Lander last week. Something else to keep an eye out for:

The woman who is staying with us had her car stolen [April 25th] between 10:30 and 11:15 am. The car is a 1997 dark teal Honda Civic, license plate 244-YVO. There is a car seat in the back. … If you see it, please call the police.

Do you recognize this man?

Neighbor April reports that security cameras at her house caught images of a man breaking in to her neighbors’ house in North Beacon Hill. She’s posted footage of the man walking past her house, as well as giving the complete footage to the police. If you recognize this man, please let us know and we can put you in touch with April.

Crime notes: Safes, stalking, and spraypaint

Photo of a safe combination dial
Multiple safes were stolen from houses burgled on Wednesday near 13th and Forest. Photo by squacco.
On Wednesday around noon, multiple homes near 13th and Forest were burglarized. The reports we’ve received indicate that the suspects were two medium-build Asian men in a white van. They appeared to be especially interested in jewelry and safes, removing such items from at least two houses.

If you saw anything that might be helpful in tracking down these men, or if you see any further suspicious activity, please don’t hesitate to contact the police and report it. And, of course, keep your doors locked and an eye open for your neighbors.

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A series of messages on the mailing list recently mentioned that signs, buildings, and even cars in alleyways near 13th and Nevada and perhaps as far north as Spokane St were tagged with graffiti on the same day, Wednesday, some time prior to about 6pm. Information on dealing with and preventing graffiti vandalism is here.

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“Give me all of your stuff, or I will stab you!”SeattleCrime.com details the stalking and knife-point robbery of a 15-year-old girl, apparently followed on the bus from Red Apple to Beacon and Dawson by her assailants. One wonders if these youth might be some of the same that have been involved in other robberies and muggings lately.