By Tim Clifford

Plastic bag
On Aug. 1 a shoplifting incident at a store on the 2500 block of S.W. Barton St. escalated into an assault when the suspect saw that the employees were calling the police. While speaking on the phone with dispatchers one of the employees described the assault by the suspect and his fleeing of the store as it occurred.

According to the employees the suspect entered the store at about 1 p.m. carrying a plastic bag filled with some unknown item(s). As the suspect entered the store whatever was in his bag set off the security alarm stands near the door. Once security gave him the “ok” to come in they decided to keep an eye on him while he shopped.

While watching the suspect security observed him placing two pairs of shorts into his plastic bag. As he did this he noticed the guard watching him and decided to confront him. The suspect walked up to the guard yelling that he didn’t appreciate being “profiled” and began throwing “fake” punches at the security officer. Eventually the suspect pulled the shorts out of his bag and threw them at the guard. The guard went to call 911 with the suspect following him and shouting at him.

At that point a store manager appeared and tried to calm the suspect down. Unreceptive to this and apparently agitated that more employees were showing up the suspect grabbed a display rack and threw it at the manager, hitting him in the shoulder. At that point the suspect ran out of the store.
The suspect was last seen running westbound on S.W. Barton St. At this time the suspect is still at large.

“Hello, are you having a good day?”
One resident on the 7100 block of 32 Ave. S.W. was startled in the late evening hours of Aug. 2 to hear loud banging from his next door neighbor’s house. As the witness looked outside he observed a tall young man with a soccer ball in his hands attempting to kick in his neighbor’s front door. Within two minutes of this witness’s phone call police officers arrived at the scene.

The officers inspected the home where the incident occurred and observed that there was an enclosed outer porch area before one could get to the front door. The door to this outer porch appeared to have been twisted and distorted to allow entry. Once inside the covered area they observed that the front door was adorned with window panes to allow one to see into the home. These panes had been kicked out but it did not appear that the suspect had actually opened the door and gone into the home. The homeowner was not present during the incident.

The neighbor described the suspect as a young black male in his 20s, about 6’2, and believed that he may be of East African descent. What threw this witness off the most about the incident was that after he called 911 he stepped out onto his front porch in time to see the suspect walking by. As the suspect passed he waved and casually said “Hello, are you having a good day?” and proceeded to walk north on 32 Ave. S.W.
An area search for the suspect turned up negative. Police could not get in touch with the homeowner/victim of this incident. One officer noticed a magazine sitting on the front porch which had the homeowner’s name, address and phone number on it. He called that number and left a voice mail. The suspect remains at large.

Crimes reported between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7

Burglaries by block: 2700 block of Alki Ave. S.W., 3200 block of 31 Ave. S.W., 3400 block of 37 Ave. S.W., 6400 block of Fauntleroy Way S.W., 7100 block of 32 Ave. S.W., 8100 block of 13 Ave. S.W., 8800 block of 20 Ave. S.W., 9800 block of 41 Ave. S.W., 9700 block of 32 Ave. S.W., 9100 block of 7 Ave. S.

Car prowls by block: 3700 block of 36 Ave. S.W., 3800 block of 20 Ave. S.W., 10700 block of 35 Ave. S.W.

Car thefts by block: 4000 block of 47 Ave. S.W., 9000 block of 20 Ave. S.W., 1000 block of S. Henderson St.