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Blotter | Another 11th/Pine gunpoint robbery — Plus, Summit hate beating

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  • 11th/Pine hold-up: A second gunpoint robbery in less than a week has been reported within a block of the East Precinct. SPD’s report on Saturday morning’s armed robbery at 11th and Pine is below. According to the report, the two male victims were walking near Cal Anderson around 3:30 AM when they were approached by a group of three males including one described via police radio as having a “large afro” and wearing red boxers under jeans who was carrying a handgun. The suspects robbed the victims of wallets, cash, and cell phones before fleeing. The victims walked a block to the East Precinct headquarters to report the hold-up but the suspects had disappeared from the area within five minutes of the crime. The SPD report below does not include that this was the second armed street robbery in the area this week. Early Wednesday, a man told police he was robbed at gunpoint at 11th and Pine. That victim, too, reported his crime by walking into the East Precinct lobby and notifying the desk clerk. The full report on Saturday’s hold-up is below:

    Armed Street Robbery
    Written by Detective Jeff Kappel on August 4, 2013
    Two men in their 30′s were robbed at gunpoint on their way home yesterday morning on Capitol Hill.
    On August 3rd at approximately 3:30 a.m. two adult male victims were walking home on the east side sidewalk in the 1600 block of 11th Avenue when they were approached by three black male suspects. One suspect brandished a handgun and demanded all their belongings. The suspects stole the victims’ wallets, cash, and cell phones. The suspects then fled the scene heading southbound through Cal Anderson Park.
    Responding officers were unable to locate the suspects, all of whom remain at large.
    The suspects are described as follows: Suspect #1 is a black male, late teens to early 20′s, large amount of hair, 150 lbs., and wearing red boxers underneath blue jeans. Suspect #2 is a black male, 5’7″ tall, 120 lbs., wearing a dark windbreaker with a red stripe down the sleeves. There was no detailed description of suspect #3. Witnesses believe the suspects may be East African and spoke English with an accent.
    Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identities or whereabouts of the suspects is asked to call 911 or Seattle Police and refer to this incident.
    Anonymous tips are welcome.
    This remains an active and on-going investigation.

  • IHOP wallet snatch: A woman told police her wallet was ripped out of her hands and stolen early Sunday outside the E Madison IHOP. According to the report on the just before 4 AM incident, the suspect fled with five other males in a “cream colored” Toyota after the grab. The vehicle was last seen headed west on Madison.
  • E Pike ‘reckless burning’: Seattle Fire was called out into the middle of the E Pike party zone just before last call Sunday morning to a report of a small fire on a second floor balcony above 11th and E Pike. According to police radio dispatches, the fire was spotted on the balcony of the building on the northeast corner of the intersection. SFD was able to quickly extinguish the blaze later described as a rubbish fire by a responding officer. We don’t have any details on damage or the cause at this time but there were no serious injuries. SPD is is investigating the incident as “reckless burning.”
  • Harvard Ave phone rip: A man reported he was assaulted and his phone was stolen by two males in a strong arm robbery early Friday morning at Harvard and Thomas. Police searched the area but could not find the suspects in the just before 3:30 AM incident.
  • UPDATESummit hate beating: Police are investigating a possible hate beating on E Olive Way early Monday morning:

    Man chased and beaten on Capitol Hill
    Written by Detective Renee Witt on August 5, 2013
    Man chased and beaten by group of people. Just shortly after midnight, officers responded to a reported assault that occurred near the 200 block of Summit Av E. The victim was located in the parking lot of the Starbuck’s at 1600 E. Olive Way. The victim stated that he had been walking east bound when he was approached by a group of suspects, 2 females and 3 males. The victim stated that the group began calling him derogatory names about his sexual orientation. The victim began running east bound pursued by the group.
    The suspects eventually caught the victim and assaulted him. The victim sustained a broken nose, minor lacerations to his face, and knee abrasions. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.
    The 37-year-old victim had been drinking and could only provide the vaguest of descriptions for the suspects. The suspects were last seen north bound on Summit Ave E.
    The suspects are described as (2) white females and three (3) white males.
    An area check was conducted with negative results.

539630_4732383921239_1831012500_nVia Facebook, friend Michael Sullivan posted a picture and this update about the local victim, Jason —

Jason **** was brutally beaten and attacked last night walking home by Starbucks on olive way. I am at harborview right now by his side. Please send your prayers his way for a decent recovery as I don’t think it will speedy  A big thanks to the eye witnesses I’ve been in touch with today and also to the police that responded so quickly. Looks like capitol hill is no safer then before.

In a sad bit of irony, Sullivan tells CHS that he and Jason have been active in recent anti-crime marches and rallies on Capitol Hill.

UPDATE: We have questions out to Seattle Police about any plans to increase SPD presences on the streets given the beating and armed robbery reports and will update when we hear back.

Monday’s bashing is seen by many as a continuation of a string of reported hate assaults on the Hill this summer including this July beating on E Pike and another possible hate incident at 23rd and John. In June, four suspects were charged with hate crimes for an attack at E Pike and 11th.

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Joseph Singer
Joseph Singer
10 years ago

What are all these people doing at 3:30 or 4 in the morning? Whey would you have your iPhone out using it in the open at that hour?

BFa
BFa
10 years ago
Reply to  Joseph Singer

Coming home from work.

Sean
Sean
10 years ago

Time for a little situational awareness for some people…

tammy
tammy
10 years ago

let’s not play “blame the victim.” the ordeal of being mugged and having your life threatened is bad enough without a bunch of people telling you it’s your fault that it happened. the only people to blame are the one’s who committed the crime.

Arzu
Arzu
10 years ago
Reply to  tammy

Thanks, Tammy! I was going to say the same thing. I wouldn’t be anywhere near Cal Anderson at 3:30A, but people do have a right to walk down a street without harassment. And Mr Singer, maybe I missed it in the report, but how do you know they were using their cell phones? It stands to reason, if a thief is going to take your wallet, he will also demand your cell phone, whether it’s clearly visible or not.

Christopher DeHerrera
Christopher DeHerrera
10 years ago
Reply to  Arzu

Cal Anderson at that hour has been amazing for the past month. It’s been so warm and comfortable that I can’t do it justice in text.

Rich
Rich
10 years ago
Reply to  tammy

Thank you, Tammy. I’m often out and about on the hill at 3AM. Why not? I generally feel safe and make every attempt to stay on lighted streets, but this could happen to anyone, anywhere at any time of day. The only people to blame are the criminals. Not the victims.

Eyeroll
Eyeroll
10 years ago

Victim blaming? Classy, commenters. Not paying attention isn’t the point… the point is that there’s all manner of trash carousing Hill these days dragging the quality of the neighborhood down. It’s time for more police presence, and we’re not getting it. Thanks a lot SPD.

Oneway
Oneway
10 years ago

What are victims doing in that neighborhood at that your? Leaving work. The doors close at 2am, but the bartenders don’t leave for another couple hours — and apparently the perps have figured out that they’re usually carrying a fair amount of cash… Quit with the victim blaming, alright?

DB McWeeberton
DB McWeeberton
10 years ago
Reply to  Oneway

As someone who’s never out at 3:30 am, I know I’ve been guilty of thinking people were dumb to be wandering around so late (assuming they were stumbling around drunk), but if there’s a pattern of bar/club workers getting picked off by regular late-night thugs, then it’s a crisis that needs to be addressed, isn’t it? People shouldn’t be in danger of getting picked off like quails in a pen just because they have to work late.

Rich
Rich
10 years ago
Reply to  Oneway

Actually, that’s not quite accurate. While bars stop serving at 2 many stay open until 3 or 4 for dancing and a lot of 18-21 year olds take advantage of this since they are not allowed in clubs while they serve. This is not the victims fault. We all have a RIGHT to be out in our neighborhoods whenever we want. And we have a right to do so without being robbed or gay bashed or whatever.

Oneway
Oneway
10 years ago

* at that HOUR

Grace
Grace
10 years ago

“All manner of trash carousing the hill these days”? What freaking planet are you on? Planet “Capitol Hill is supposed to be Bellevue West! I want my money’s worth! Get away from my nice sanitized condo block you icky trash you! Nothing bad is ever supposed to happen near my investment! WAAAAAH!”

calhoun
10 years ago
Reply to  Grace

Pike-Pine is hardly “sanitized.” In fact, it’s the opposite. The “broken windows theory” is in full effect there. And, yes, “trash” is the word to describe these blatant criminals who are such fear in our neighborhood.

calhoun
10 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

meant to say: “causing such fear.”…

Wish there was a way to edit typos, etc…

Josh
Josh
10 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

Fear is in the eye of the beholder. Don’t you get it yet? It’s you.

Gracie
10 years ago
Reply to  Grace

Grace, while I like your name, I don’t much like your attitude. You are one of those people who will scream the loudest when you find yourself the victim of a crime. Desiring a clean and safe place to live hardly constitutes “Bellevue West,” ferhevinsakes.

ejs
ejs
10 years ago
Reply to  Gracie

Gracie, I like your name too. I get what Grace is saying, it’s true and all, and I don’t like the crime, but you just have to read between the lines. It makes me wonder though, as the Hill becomes Bellevue West (long depressing sign) where is the police presence? Answer: Not enough and we need to hire more.

SeattleMike5
SeattleMike5
10 years ago

Evidently Grace enjoys the trash – so you’d better leave all the scumbags out there alone! (ha ha) And…oh, for the “good old days” when we had more run-down buildings and little residential and retail growth! Those were the days. *sigh*

Mitchell
Mitchell
10 years ago

The back and forth on this site about blaming the victim is really tiring and indicitave of people with little experience of actual “random” violence. This shit happens and it’s not fun for anyone. Your tendency to analyze it is boring, in my opinion.

Mitchell
Mitchell
10 years ago

The only way this shit will stop is if people fight back, unfortunately. The hill is targeted because its seen as weak and care free.

Mitchell
Mitchell
10 years ago

However I’m not suggesting people SHOULD fight back though. Quite the opposite, just to clarify. That’s what the law is for. Fortunately most of these robberies occur outside the police station.

Philip
Philip
10 years ago

Anyone seen our Mayor’s new Park Rangers? I walk through this park 4 times a day, at the least, and haven’t spotted a one. But 75% of the time I spot crime.

Kid
Kid
10 years ago
Reply to  Philip

Point well taken, Philip. I HAVE seen the Ranger Rick vehicle being driven around the perimeter of the park but I, too, have yet to actually spot the rangers themselves on duty.

Plus, we go back to the original problem here: Two armed robberies within 1 block of the East Precinct. Perhaps the SPD ought to placed more of the officers’ desks on the lobby level of the East Precinct because the Police Dept certainly has adequate windows to merely look across the street and either up or down the block to witness the crimes taking place. Sheesh.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
10 years ago

“Responding officers were unable to locate the suspects, all of whom remain at large.”

What a surprise. With this spate of armed robberies near the East Precinct headquarters, you’d think that the police would nab at least one or two of the suspects by accident. Yet time and time again, the robbers get away.

hillian
hillian
10 years ago

Wonder if they will rob the precinct itself next. Maybe SPD will do something about the crimes then.

Also, I have trouble believing that the rangers are at the park 50% of the time. I am at the park practically daily with my kids, and saw the rangers just once. Sunday morning around 10 a.m. they were driving by, took one look at all the transients in various stages of waking up, and left.

a.
a.
10 years ago

So do we think that the urban encampments on Pike & Pine are making this better or worse? I felt like I was walking through someone’s closet right by Cal Andersen when I was walking to work today.

Maggie
Maggie
10 years ago
Reply to  a.

I know, right? How is that even legal? Don’t we have public dumping laws? I mean, I can’t just move and leave my old couch on the street, but this person can camp out with a storage closet full of stuff spilling over onto the sidewalk? And now there’s a similar encampment in the doorway of Velo Bikes?

It’s ridiculous. Every single abandoned building now has a homeless person sleeping in it. We have a real problem and the city seems to be turning a blind eye.

And no, Grace, I’m not a property owning Bellevue yuppie. I’m a 17-year resident of the Hill who is watching it quickly turn to shit. Poorly thought out development/gentrification/microhousing is part of the problem, but a more urgent one is the crime.

a.
a.
10 years ago
Reply to  Maggie

I really don’t understand it. When people illegally park their cars, the city has no problem dealing with it. Not sure why the urban camping is completely ignored.

calhoun
10 years ago
Reply to  a.

Homeless people are quite well-informed about what they can get away with. If they set up camp in a business doorway, or other private property, they know that they will only be ousted if their camp is reported to the SPD (and, even then the response will be slow, if at all)…..and that report must come from the property owner (who is not present at night, or even during the day if the place is abandoned), not just any citizen.

genevieve
genevieve
10 years ago
Reply to  a.

I’ve lived in Cap Hill for 22 years. The overall neighborhood was a lot rougher back then, way less shiny, no gastropubs or overpriced comfort food, and there have always been homeless sleeping in the park that is now Cal Anderson – but only in the last month or so have I *ever* felt any unease about walking through there by myself. I’m conflicted – most of the truly homeless in Cap Hill are harmless and just trying to make their way in the world, but there’s an element of aggression I just haven’t encountered previously.

I’m also sick to shit of the not-from-here assholes who walk down the street like they own it, spewing homophobic insults. This is now a regular part of walking in the Pike/Pine corridor. These idjits are as big of a problem to the hill as the urban encampments.

CapHillGator
CapHillGator
10 years ago

After 13 years I am finally moving to a different neighborhood next year. I’ve had a enough. I’ve battled this deterioration for far too long now, and I just don’t have the patience for it anymore – cause it certainly getting much worse

Jane
Jane
10 years ago

I finally gave up and moved to the suburbs, couldn’t be happier! I now have trees and bike trails outside my windows instead of armed robberies and screaming drunks at the bus stop. I don’t care if I sold out, I can sleep at night.

blueyed70
blueyed70
10 years ago

I have a question . Isn’t he the same man who was harassed by the wheel employees . He claimed he was kicked off the wheel for being gay ?

daninseatown
daninseatown
10 years ago
Reply to  blueyed70

Yuuuuuuuppppp.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
10 years ago
Reply to  daninseatown

Are you going somewhere with this? Just curious….

daninseatown
daninseatown
10 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

Not sure where @blueyed70 is going with this but I read this story with a heavy dose of skepticism. I don’t doubt that Mr. Jacobs was assaulted but given his history of making false claims of homophobic discrimination among other incidents of crying wolf I would not be surprised if there was more, much more, to this story.

pissed off on the hill
pissed off on the hill
10 years ago
Reply to  daninseatown

wow, you folks have a hell of a lot of nerve blaming the victim. Do you do that when a woman is raped too?

Fact: he WAS kicked off the wheel because he was gay. I’ve seen plenty of straight folks making out in public and nobody seems to harass them. None of that has any bearing on this hate crime.

I hope to God none of you ever has to experience that. Oh wait, maybe I DO hope some of you have to deal with it.

blueyed
blueyed
10 years ago
Reply to  daninseatown

I have gay /gay friendly friends that work(ed) at the wheel . With that being said . I read the article with some biased. If it went down the way he said it did . As a hate crime , Then I hope they catch the bastards. Not blaming the victim . but as a child I was told a story about a little boy who cried wolf and when the wolf came no one listened to his cries. I don’t believe his story about how it went down at the wheel. but now something more serious has happened , He could have lost his life .

nh
nh
10 years ago

The original confrontation started in front of my apartment building right under my window.

Cameltoad
Cameltoad
10 years ago
Reply to  nh

…And, can you provide any details?

George
10 years ago

How is it that the Police Precinct is also located where almost all these assaults are occurring? Cal Anderson…Pine and 10th and 11th. It should be one of the safest areas but it’s the most dangerous place on Cap Hill.

I think Police feel helpless. The laws don’t allow them to do much until it’s too late.

JJ Aemes
JJ Aemes
10 years ago

The cops are probably all busy on a very important stake-out of a hand-job parlor.

PBE
PBE
10 years ago

The police say they dont have the resources to fight this crime, yet they have enough officers to give my wife a $130 ticket for ‘blocking traffic’ while she was stopped for all of 30 seconds in the street while someone put a wedding dress in her car. The cops in our town are all BS

calhoun
10 years ago
Reply to  PBE

Oh, how I love gross generalizations like that!

RainWorshipper
RainWorshipper
10 years ago

I have been living on the hill a long time and am a lesbian. I have certainly noticed a lot more homophobia in the last couple of years. It feels like a lot of the new residents are not comfortable with the fact that Capitol Hill has traditionally been the gayborhood and would rather we would all just leave. I have even heard some of these comments in and around gay bars on the hill. It’s very frustrating in addition to all of the other changes in the neighborhood and makes the hill seem even less safe for all of its many queer residents.

ejs
ejs
10 years ago
Reply to  RainWorshipper

And this is what Grace was implying in her post. You have, let’s just say yuppie Bellevue types who all of a sudden want to live in an urban environment because it’s now cool and the developers are loving it building them sky high priced shoeboxes to indulge in.

Peter
Peter
10 years ago

If you want to get more police, and more police on the street, then we need a different mayor. McGinn thinks crime is down and we don’t need anymore cops. And he’s against reforming the SPD, as he proved by trying to block the reforms the DOJ proposed. Time for a new Mayor. Hope you voted!

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
10 years ago
Reply to  Peter

That more than anything is why I did not vote to re-elect McGinn . I don’t doubt that citywide, maybe crime may be down. But it galls me a little hear them tout that when I see nothing but more muggings, beatings, and robberies on CapHill all the time. More of the same in the Mayor’s office just seems likely to lead to more of the same on CapHill, and that’s just not OK.

ejs
ejs
10 years ago
Reply to  Peter

McGinn loves to rattle of stats that crime is down. That’s the very first thing he mentions, notice that? Sure and it is down around the country, duh, but you still have hot spots that need to be addressed. Time to get your bicycle and ride back to NY because you don’t get it Mikey!

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[…] incidents around the Hill, including a robbery at 23rd Avenue E and E John Street in July and a beating on Summit Av E earlier this […]