A man police say was caught in the act of burglarizing a residence in the 700 block of Bellevue Ave E Friday afternoon was arrested trying to hide out after a wild chase. The preliminary SPD report on the incident is below. According to SPD, the armed homeowner chased down the suspected thief and forced the man to drop his booty before the suspect again took off running and made a dangerous crossing of the busy highway and disappeared into the nearby greenbelt. We’ll follow up to see what else we can learn about the arrested suspect as details are released. Earlier this week, a gun-toting 23rd Ave resident also reportedly chased off would-be burglars on a block where a house had been recently ransacked.
A homeowner returned home to find a burglar in his house. On 11/16/12, just shortly after 12:00 p.m., a postal employee called 911 to report that a homeowner was struggling with a man in the 700 block of Bellevue Av E.
According to the victim, when he returned home he found a man in his house and the suspect was in the process of stealing items from the victim’s home. The victim confronted the man and a struggle ensued.
The suspect managed to break free and run off with some of the victim’s property. The armed homeowner/victim chased after the suspect. The victim drew his handgun and ordered the suspect to stop. The suspect threw the victim’s property on the ground and continued to run.
Officers arrived on scene and located the homeowner/victim. He was not injured.
Additional units arrived and set up containment in the area.
The suspect was last seen running towards a bike trail just east of I-5. Officers gained sight of the fleeing suspect as he jumped over a fence onto a ledge and then onto I-5. As a result of the jump the suspect injured his leg. However, he continued to run westbound crossing I-5 against traffic. The suspect ran into a green belt and officers lost sight of him. Containment was set up on both sides of I-5. Officers entered the green belt on foot and subsequently located the hiding suspect.
The victim positively identified the burglar. Seattle Fire responded and treated the suspect for a leg injury he sustained after he jumped 20 feet from a ledge onto I-5. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center (HMC) where he was being treated and under Hospital guard. Upon release he will be booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Burglary.
A second victim who stated that the same suspect had tried to break into his home earlier in the morning contacted an officer on containment in the area.
