Seattle Police report that at about 1:30 Sunday morning, someone broke into a portable classroom and set it on fire at Asa Mercer Middle School. Police say that the suspect or suspects probably stole a number of computers from the portable, which is the media arts and yearbook classroom. Detectives are investigating the incident, which caused about $15,000 in damage.
Tag Archives: arson
Police call fire on S. Austin “Suspicious”
by Elizabeth Dinh, KOMO News (Beacon Hill Blog news partner)
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.
See also the Seattle Police Blotter blog entry about this incident.
Arsonist burns cars at 14th and Nevada
An arsonist torched multiple cars on 14th Ave. S. just west of Jefferson Park early Sunday morning.
Beacon Hill Blog news partner KOMO reported yesterday:
Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said that officers and firefighters were called to the 4100 block of 14th Avenue South, just north of Nevada, around 5:15 a.m. on a report of a car fire. As they arrived, they learned of a second fire near 14th and Nevada.
As firefighters were putting those fires out, a third vehicle fire was reported on Nevada, near 16th. Jamieson said a resident with a garden hose quickly put that fire out.
Jamieson said that two other cars were targeted by the arsonist. One had burned papers inside, but it never spread beyond that. The fifth car had its doors open, was ransacked inside, but it was never ignited.
SPD’s Arson/Bomb Squad has taken over the investigation, Jamieson said. There were no injuries reported.
The KOMO report also includes photos and video.
Neighbor George V. Reilly also took some photos of the damaged vehicles. You can see them here.