Burglaries and break-ins are on the rise this holiday season, which one victim found out the hard way when her own brother called to tell her that her home had become a crime scene.
Police say a group of 10 juveniles broke into a South Seattle home Tuesday night at around 7 p.m.
The woman who lives at the home, Betty Darang-Macalma, was at church when the burglars struck.
Luckily, her brother lives across the street and saw the thieves walk into the house. He called police, and then he called his sister.
When police arrived at the house, located at South Holly St. and Beacon Ave. S., they found two suspects inside and two more outside. Those four were taken into custody, but the other six burglars are still on the loose.
Darang-Macalma said the crime has her shaken.
“Violated,” she said. “They went into the privacy of your home.”
She said the thieves got away with roughly $10,000 in valuables.
“I think four laptops—they recovered one—the Wii, some jewelry. They didn’t get the most important jewelry, but my husband’s wedding band is gone,” she said.
Residents in the area say this latest burglary is just another sign that things are changing.
“My neighbor’s car got broken into and my house got burglarized. I’m just scared living here,” said Anh Ngyen.
Darang-Macalma said she has an alarm system, but didn’t have it turned on Tuesday night. She said she’s lived at the house for 31 years and is considering installing security cameras.
Be aware of your surroundings while listening to music or talking on the phone. Photo by Ed Yourdon via Creative Commons/Flickr. Street robberies have been on the increase in Southeast Seattle lately, according to a Seattle Police community alert issued yesterday. The robberies often involve 2-3 suspects who demand phones, iPods, wallets, or jewelry from individual victims. In some cases, weapons were displayed, while in others, “body force” or the threat of it was used.
Victims typically were distracted by using their phones or listening to iPods. Many of the robberies clustered around transit stops and stations, particularly Mount Baker Station, Columbia City Station, and the areas around Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. and S Othello Street, and Rainier Ave. S. and S. Henderson Street.
These “hot spots” are in Rainier Valley, not on Beacon Hill, but there have been a few incidents on the Hill in the last month as well.
On December 2 at about 4:30 p.m., a man got off the bus at Beacon Avenue South and South Columbian Way, and was then accosted at Beacon and South Ferdinand Street by two suspects, one of whom held a gun to the victim’s stomach. They demanded his cell phone and the cash from his wallet. One of the the two then pepper-sprayed the victim, then they ran east on South Ferdinand. The suspects aren’t described in the police report.
A few days earlier, in the afternoon on November 28, another man got off the bus at Beacon and South Orcas, and was confronted by two men in the area of 22nd Avenue South and Orcas. One man pointed a silver handgun at the victim and said “give me everything you got.” The victim gave him a wallet, an iPod, and a backpack. The suspects were described as “an Asian male wearing a black BB hat, a black hoodie with the hood up, and black pants,” and “an unknown race male wearing a black and red jacket.”
The next day, in nearly the same location at about 6:45 p.m., another victim walking home from the bus had a run in with two men, one of whom pointed a “small dark semi-auto handgun” at him. They took the victim’s wallet and jacket. The suspects were both described as Asian males, about 5’8″. One was “possibly Vietnamese or Korean… thin build, shaved almost bald head, and wearing dark clothing including a hooded sweatshirt with a light colored design on the front.” The other was “possibly Filipino, chubby build, bigger lips, wearing all dark clothing including a hooded sweatshirt.” The latter was driving a white Honda Prelude before the two pulled over and confronted the victim.
On November 15, two teenagers were waiting at a bus stop in the 7100 block of Beacon Avenue South when a man displayed a handgun and demanded their iPhone 4 and blue iPod Nano, saying “I need your phone, give me it, this is my shit.” The suspect was described as a black male, 5’6″-5’9″, possibly 16-19 years of age, weighing 175 pounds, with a short black afro, and wearing a blue jacket with a royal blue hood and collar and blue baggy jeans.
To keep yourself as safe as possible from this type of crime, the Police suggest a few basic principles, including:
Carry minimal items.
Don’t bring your entire handbag or wallet with you unless you need to.
Plan your route and pay close attention to your surroundings.
Avoid listening to music through earphones when out on the street.
Don’t use or flash valuables like laptops, iPods, iPads or iPhones on the bus or train.
If someone demands your property and displays or implies in any way that they have a weapon, don’t resist.
Two youths were robbed of a cell phone at gunpoint Friday morning in Mid-Beacon Hill, according to the Seattle Police Department.
The victims were walking near Beacon Avenue South and South Brandon Street at 8:30 a.m. when a man in his 20s approached them and took out a silver handgun, according to police.
The man took a cell phone from one of the victims and ran off, according to police.
The victims didn’t call police until they got to Cleveland High School about 20 minutes later, but officers were able to locate a man matching the description of the robber in the area.
Officers found a gun on the man, but it wasn’t the gun described by the victims, and neither of the victims was able to positively identify the man as the robber, according to police.
The man was arrested and booked into Youth Services Center regardless because of the gun, according to police.
Neighbor Jonathan sent us this tale of theft and recovery:
“On Wednesday, November 23rd, I left my messenger bag in the Beacon Hill Light Rail Station as I absent mindedly boarded the northbound train. As soon as I realized what I had done, I switched trains at the International District station and headed back. By the time I got there it was gone. It was either turned in or stolen.
“I called Link Light Rail and talked to the security guard on site, neither were of any help and so I waited, just hoping it was turned in to the next train operator. Turns out it was stolen. However, the taker or takers ultimately were not interested in the bag, only the computer in it. The bag was dropped on my front lawn/sidewalk on 16th Ave at around 10:00pm or so. At that point, I knew it was stolen of course and so gave up hope of finding it. I started checking Craigslist for computers of my specs to see if it was being turned around for a quick buck.
“However, the next morning, Thanksgiving Day, my computer was sitting safely on my front porch chair. There was still a lot of juice left in the battery and a note written on the back saying, ‘God did not return your computer, I did. Ha!’ During the day on Wednesday, I was able to use the Find My iPhone app and remotely wipe and lock the computer, which rendered it useless and unmarketable. So they brought it back. No harm, no foul as they say. And I got a good laugh out of the note too.”
Neighbor Dayna writes about a scary situation near 13th and Snoqualmie on Tuesday night:
“While walking home from the bus at 6:45pm Tuesday night, my neighbor (40ish-something male) was jumped and beaten with a baseball bat by about a half-dozen teenage boys. The boys didn’t rob him, but laughed as they were swinging the bat at his head before jumping in a car that was waiting for them. He was only a block away from his house, which by the way is also just a few blocks from Maple park and Maple school. It has shaken up our neighborhood. We’ve also had a few home break-ins this past week, more than usual back to back, but the violence against our friend and neighbor has hit us all hard. We’re just not sure what could have been done differently in this situation… A grown man, walking home from the bus in the early evening, attacked by young men while laughing. We’re just not sure what to think about this.”
Also in crime, we’ve been hearing about a few car prowls and burglaries in the last few weeks on the neighborhood mailing lists and in emails to the Beacon Hill Blog. Neighbor Josh writes:
“I wanted to report two of our cars at [the 2000 block of] S Horton St were broken into last night [11/15]. Both driver side windows were shattered and the cars were rummaged through with no significant items taken. I can’t count how many times our cars have been broken into but it’s unfortunate. We leave nothing valuable in the car but it seems to keep happening. Just wanted to get this info out to everyone.”
Another neighbor wrote in late October:
“Prowlers broke into both of my cars. 1 car on Monday night, and came back on Tuesday for wife’s car, alarms went off both times. Nothing much taken just an empty backpack.”
Some folks in the 1900 block South Lander Street must be feeling unsafe right now. On November 12, their residence was burglarized for the second time in two months. The burglar(s) got away with four credit cards, and promptly used one of them at Nike Town ($700+) and Starbucks ($200). Anyone in the area sporting new shoes and a new espresso machine?
Just before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, officers got a call about a man with a gun along the 1500 block of Cherrylane Place South. Emergency dispatchers say the caller reported the man had been arguing with his neighbors and had pointed a handgun at one of them standing by a window inside a house.
Police say the suspect made a firing motion with the gun and then placed it behind his back and walked back inside his home.
Officers set up a perimeter around the suspect’s home and began efforts to get him to come outside without the gun. The man was unresponsive to officers’ requests, so hostage negotiations and SWAT were called to the scene.
After six hours of negotiating with the man, he finally agreed to surrender. He was placed under arrest at 11:00 p.m. and taken to the South Precinct.
A Seattle woman came home on Sunday to discover someone set fire to her home. Now, the neighborhood is on edge as police search for an arsonist.
While she was at church, police say someone broke into Eddye Davis’s Beacon Hill house by knocking down a door and then started a fire inside.
“You know—it’s one thing to break in and take something. It’s another to set the house on fire and take away what for some people could be a lifetime of memories,†said Thomas Poole, Davis’s son-in-law.
Davis moved into the home nearly 40 years ago. She lived in the home with her husband until he passed away five years ago. It was where her daughter, Maret, grew up.
“This is just evil. It hurts. It hurts more than anything because true enough—things can be replaced, but it just hurts,†she said.
Davis’s house has been broken into before and some neighbors said they’ve also been victims of break-ins.But this is the first time anyone here has seen an arson, and they’re shocked.
“Well, it’s very troubling. You are concerned about what goes through the minds of people that would do something like this,†said Thomas Poole.
Even more troubling, Davis’s family says is why someone would target her home.
“If she wasn’t at church, she was helping somebody,†said her daughter.
Now, a woman who’s known for lending a hand to those in need is out of home. There’s so much smoke damage it’s not safe to stay.
Even though Davis was too shaken to speak, her family says they know she’s strong.
“So we just have to pick up and move on—keep living,†said Thomas Poole.
A witness described the suspicious man fleeing the scene as a light skinned black man between the ages of 17 to 19-years-old. He is approximately 6’1″ tall and 160 pounds, and was dressed in all black at the time of the incident.
The search is on for the driver who crashed into a church, then fled the scene.
Service was canceled at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on 14th Ave. S. Tuesday morning after a car rammed into the side of the building.
The crash, which occurred just before 2 a.m., tore through the stage inside the church, and left behind a large gaping hole.
No one was injured in the crash. Firefighters said the driver ran from the scene, leaving behind his car, before police arrived.
The crash displaced several church elders who live above the church. The Red Cross is assisting the displaced residents while investigators determine whether the structure is safe for occupancy.
A description of the sought driver was not available.
A woman with poor eyesight wasn’t able to immediately see if anything was taken from her home in a burglary Friday, but the window smashed in with a pick ax was hard to miss.
Police said a burglar broke into a home in the 5200 block of Columbia Drive S. in Beacon Hill by taking a pick ax and smashing open the bedroom window. The burglar than ransacked the bedroom and office, strewing belongings across the floor.
Two people, including the woman, came home during the burglary and saw the person run out the back door.
The sight-impaired woman told police she did not immediately notice any missing belongings.
Two people from Renton were arrested early Sunday after a drive-by shooting on north Beacon Hill.
Seattle Police spokesperson Renee Witt said that the suspects drove up to a home on the 2000 block of S. McClellan Street just after midnight. One of them shot out windows in two vehicles in front of the home before they drove off.
Witt said the victim recognized the suspects as being people he has had ongoing problems with in the past. He told officers that the two lived in Renton, and soon after Renton police were contacted and told about the suspects.
Soon after, Renton officers found the two suspects at the drive-thru window of a Wendy’s on Rainier Avenue, west of downtown Renton. The car they were in was pulled over and the two were arrested.
A search warrant was received, and the gun believed to have been used in the shooting was found in the car’s glove box.
The two were taken to the King County jail, where they were booked for numerous weapons violations.
