Update, July 11
The Seattle Police Department has released more information, via their police blotter blog.
Tuesday afternoon, police received a report that a man matching the description of the suspect was at Ballard Commons Park. They took the man's name, ran it, and found it was clear. At the time, they were unable to verify if he was the same person from Salmon Bay Park.
But, Wednesday morning, police received a delay out-of-state response, indicating the man had been missing from Montana and had some mental health issues.
Officers once again found him in Ballard Commons Park. They took him into custody and brought him to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. They now believe he is the same man from Salmon Bay Park and are continuing to investigate the incident.
In addition, SPD relayed an apology for their delay on Monday. A number of factors contributed to this, they say.
First, the initial call at 6:21 p.m. only described the man as suspicious. At the time, no attempted physical contact with children seems to have been made.
Second, the incident was taking place during shift change, and officers were tied up with a possible child abduction call at Golden Gardens -- a man was seen carrying a screaming child into his car. That call took some time, police say, though the whole event ended up being unfounded.
Police admitted that the incident at Salmon Bay Park merited a faster response.
Original, July 10
Many parents grew concerned this week when they heard the news of a man at Salmon Bay Park attempting to grab children on Monday.
Now, earlier today, police have taken a man suspected to be connected to those incidents into custody.
Seattle Police Department spokesman Mark Jamieson said that they have taken him to the hospital for an evaluation. KOMO news reporter Lindsay Cohen tweeted that the man is mentally handicapped and no charges are expected, but Jamieson said nothing is confirmed yet. Jamieson said more details will be available later.
According to a letter sent out by local resident Holly, she had taken her four-year-old daughter to Salmon Bay Park to play two days ago. She noticed a young man sitting on a bench staring at her daughter. When her daughter went over to the playground to go down the slide, the suspect had attempted to grab at her, but Holly took her off the slide -- inches away from the man -- before he could.
The man then attempted to grab another child off of a zip line but failed. That child and his caretaker left in the opposite direction.
When Holly called 911, the operator said they have had several calls matching that description. When the police arrived, about an hour later, the young man and all the witnesses were gone. Holly said she could not tell if he was mentally ill or just "very, very high."
A description of the man marked him as "Light-skinned male in his early 20's, short sandy blond hair, scruffy, sandy blond beard, light eyes, approximately 5'11" with a thin, muscular build.
Community Officer Tim Wear warned that the man could be dangerous.
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