Early last week officers responded to an attempted burglary at an apartment on 16th Ave s.w. around 11 p.m. The victim told police she was sitting on the couch, watching TV with a neighbor/friend when a male appeared trying to open a living room window. The two women ran to the kitchen to hide and shortly saw the same man attempting to open a kitchen window. The victim got a good, unobstructed view of the white male with short blonde spiky hair and a tattoo of unknown letters on his neck. Suddenly, she realized it was the same man that, approximately seven years ago, had grabbed her in the alley behind the same apartment and tried to wrestle her into the back seat of a car. She told police she had struggled free from her attacker and ran away before calling 911. Back to modern times, the woman took a proactive approach and ran to the window, screaming and pounding on the glass which scared the suspect away. Police took fingerprints from the windows and submitted them to evidence.

A man came home from a Christmas party in south Seattle last week around 2:15 a.m. to find his front window open and his front door ajar. The man called police to report a burglary and they responded at 3:45 a.m. Officers knocked on the front door repeatedly but got no response, so they entered the residence and announced their presence as they moved from room to room looking for the burglary victim. They found him passed out in the only bedroom. “With some difficulty” they were able to rouse him from his holiday slumber and described the man as “highly intoxicated.” The man apologized for being drunk and told police he decided to climb through the broken window when he got home because he “did not want to disturb any evidence.” The move resulted in a cut to his arm for which he refused medical attention. The man told police it appeared nothing had been stolen and the police report confirmed that it appeared the residence had not been ransacked. The only sign of forced entry was the broken window the man had climbed through.

On Dec. 20, around 4:30 a.m. the owner of a restaurant on the 7300 block of Rainier Ave s. received a call from an alarm company that the back door of her business was ajar. She rushed to the restaurant, noticed damage to the rear door and called 911. When police arrived they found a pocket knife on the ground and visible damage to the door handle and lock. It was clear that the unknown suspect(s) had failed in making entry and the owner told police she lodges a chair underneath the door handle inside before locking up. The chair saved the day and the pocket knife was submitted into evidence.

A taco truck located in south Seattle was burglarized last week. The padlock on the front passenger-side door was cut with bolt cutters and the unknown suspect(s) stole a JVC LCD TV, several food items including soda and chewing gum and $400 in cash. The suspect(s) stopped short of firing up the grill and making carne asada tacos.

Burglaries/break-ins/car prowls by block: 9000/9400 35th Ave SW, 4500 SW Hemlock Way, 10000 47th Ave SW, 3700 42nd Ave SW, 9400 21st Ave SW, 11000 36th Ave SW, 3700 SW Olga St, 3700 SW Hanford St, 3000 Belvidere Ave SW, 8800 17th Ave SW, 3600 45th Ave SW, 4800 49th Ave SW, 5600 45th Ave SW, 9800 Marine View Dr SW, 1600 45th Ave SW, 9700 33rd Ave SW, 9400 18th Ave SW, 9400 35th Ave SW, 2600 SW Barton St, 4500 SW Hemlock St, 5600 47th Ave SW, 4500 39th Ave SW

The success of this column is largely based on feedback, tips and suggestions from you, the reader, so if you have a tip, or concern about crime in West Seattle please contact Ty Swenson anytime at policeblotter@robinsonnews.com.