By Tim Clifford

On Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m. shoplifting suspects from the Fred Meyer in Burien were involved in two short vehicle chases with King County Sheriff’s deputies and responding officers from cites nearby. After a successful PIT maneuver was used by officers on Highway 518 four suspects were taken into custody. The incident began earlier in the day when four suspects were spotted by store security shoplifting from the Fred Meyer in Burien at 14300 1 st Ave. S. These same suspects had been spotted at the same location stealing days earlier.

They are all believed to be professional shoplifters who are suspected in crimes in Renton, Burien and SeaTac.

Security guards managed to give officers a clear enough description of the getaway vehicle that deputies were able to spot the vehicle getting onto 518. A short car chase, around 5 to 8 minutes, ensued with the suspects managing to escape after ramming one officer’s vehicle.

Minutes later responding officers spotted the vehicle getting back onto 518 heading east and pursued. Using a PIT (Precision Immobilization Technique) maneuver after 2 minutes of pursuit three officer vehicles pinned the suspects’ car and arrested four.

The suspects all face a litany of charges including Attempting to Allude and Felony Flight. It is expected that theft charges will be coming down shortly.
A search warrant was served on the vehicle earlier in the day on Feb. 12 which recovered numerous items of stolen property and a handgun.