Last Sunday, police responded to a burglary call on Harbor Island just after noon. When they arrived at the retired, vacant flour mill the caller told them several motion detector trips revealed a burglar’s path from one building over a skywalk into another, and they believed he was still there. The week before the same building had been burglarized twice and an estimated $100,000 in brass and copper was taken. Four officers entered the abandoned building and began searching rooms and floors throughout. Two officers entered a room described as a lounge area and found a white male, who they arrested without incident. In the lounge they found several pieces of fresh cut copper piping and a backpack containing tools for removal, belonging to the suspect. Back at the Southwest Precinct, the suspect admitted that he had robbed the building five to six times and would often go there on the weekends. Police also recovered a Sony digital camera which the suspect said he used for, “urban exploring.” As officers looked through the photos, most of them were of the interior of the flour mill. The suspect was taken to King County Jail and booked on suspicion of burglary.

A resident on the 5600 block of 31 Ave s.w. made an unsettling discovery after returning home from work last Tuesday. Several items were missing, including toothpaste, two toothbrushes, a plate, a beer from his fridge and three watches worth a total of $400. As he searched the house he checked a crawlspace (under his house) and discovered evidence that someone had been living there, unbeknownst to him. The victim also had video surveillance that revealed a white male entering his garage. Police took a freeze-frame picture of the suspect and fingerprints from the medicine cabinet (where the toothbrushes were stolen from). The investigation is ongoing.

A woman called police after a “friend” allegedly stole $578 from her purse. The woman told police she was driving home after taking her nine-year-old son to an unspecified hospital emergency room for a sore throat. Her story continued: Around noon at the intersection of Delridge Way s.w. and s.w. Roxbury she saw an old friend that she had known since childhood and had seen on occasion as he was often in and out of jail on drug charges. She stopped the car to talk and the suspect asked if he could hitch a ride to Skyway, WA. She agreed, the son moved to the back seat and the suspect took shotgun. As they drove to Skyway the woman told the suspect she did not have enough gas to get to there. He told her not to worry because he knew another woman they could stop to see who would have $10. They made “cordial” small talk about how long it had been since they had seen one another until the intersection of 8th Ave s.w. and s.w. Henderson St, where the suspect’s tenor changed. He drew a metal pipe from his coat pocket and threatened the woman, “Give me your purse right now (expletive).” The woman told police she let him take $578 dollars intended for rent from her purse, fearing for her son’s safety, and the suspect then fled in an unknown direction. Interestingly, when the responding officer asked for further information on the suspect, the woman “appeared reluctant” to provide details. The officer showed her two booking photos that came up in relation to the name given and she said neither was the suspect. She said she did not have any contact information for him and insisted that her son did not see or hear the robbery from the backseat because they never, “raised their voices or got too excited.” The officer left the woman with a business card in case she came up with more information.

Burglaries/break-ins/car prowls by block: 3600 51st Ave SW, 4700 42nd Ave SW, 5600 31st Ave SW, 5600 16th Ave SW, 3500 SW Graham St, 3100 SW Holly St, 2200 SW Webster St, 8400 12th Ave SW, 10400 42nd Ave SW, 3500 SW 107th St, 11400 34th Ave SW

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