The victim in an overnight hold-up outside the Oddfellows Building was robbed of more than $3,000 in DJ equipment, his music CDs, and cash, according to the SPD report on the incident.
According to the report, the DJ told police he was leaving the E Pine building around 2:30 AM Sunday when he was approached from behind by two suspects who threatened to shoot him and demanded his gear. The victim said he never saw a gun but was afraid and handed over his stuff to the suspects described only as two black males.
The victim told police he then ran to his car and drove home before reporting the crime later in the day.
The hold-up was part of a weekend plagued by a swarm of nighttime street robberies around Capitol Hill’s entertainment core.
UPDATE: In a letter to the mayor’s office obtained by CHS, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce earlier this month called for “dedicated Seattle Police Department foot patrols at the Broadway and Pike intersections on Friday and Saturday evenings.” East Precinct’s commander Capt. Pierre Davis told CHS earlier this month that foot patrols were being increased in Cal Anderson. While the push for foot patrols may help what has become an annual late-summer uptick in street crimes, the base number of officers on patrol in the precinct at any given time is probably even more important. While we have been unsuccessful in getting official numbers from SPD, a person with knowledge of the situation told CHS that a grand total of 12 officers were available to patrol the entirety of the East Precinct on a Friday night earlier this month. UPDATE: A department spokesperson said that night of a dozen officers on patrol in East Precinct isn’t far off a typical night. The spokesperson estimated around 15 officers are on duty at any one time in the area.
The chamber’s letter is below.
and he chose not to drive 2 blocks to the POLICE STATION because why exactly?
He reported at another precinct — it’s plenty possible and likely and 100% understandable that he might have needed to get his shit together and calm down in a safe place after something like this.
why don’t they give a description of the offenders?
SPD report doesn’t specify why there wasn’t a more complete description available. We’ve included only information included in the report. But, is that your question? Or were you asking about something else?
The bad guys are preying on people on Capitol Hill because its easy pickings. It seems like the Hill is full of people who are just waiting to be a victim. Fight back folks. Make it hard and the bad guys will think twice before coming to our Hill.
Every public safety official I have ever heard from would disagree with you
Fight back? No thank you. I don’t want to get shot. I’d rather lose my phone etc.
Better to be situationally aware and lobby for a police force to be present.
Totally agree, Timmy– if people did these 3 things the number of successful muggins would probably plunge:
1. tear yourself away from your cellphone and pay attention to where you are and who’s around you.
2. stop getting so fucked up you practically ask for it, and leave yourself unable to accurately describe anyone to the cops if you did get hit up. If you’re wasted you’re easy prey.
3. watch out for groups of 2 or more guys and cross the street if you see ’em coming. (And that goes for any race, regardless of what some people seem to be hinting at).
You mean like the 2 poor guys that were shot a few days ago in broad daylight at the gas station they were working at? Scary ghetto people are usually scary, like they are dangerous in real life. They probably feel like they have nothing to lose as it is. Play it safe and don’t be a hero.
Oh, well.
Anyone loading expen$ive sound equipment into their car at 2am needs to have someone standing guard with them, preferably provided by the club. It sucks to have to be that paranoid, but it’s reality. And if the club won’t do it, they will have to provide it themselves. Seems like Capitol Hill innocence lost, but it’s our reality now, sadly.
What’s our new Mayor, who ran on the importance of this stuff, doing in our neighborhood. Seems like things are getting worse, not better. C’mon Ed, where are you??
Welcome to the real world.
All of the muggings and robberies have been perpetrated by black males – and always in a cowardly group vs. individual. They’re probably all the same guys – haven’t been caught yet – and the more they get away with robbing people the more brazen they’ll get. I don’t understand why the mayor or police haven’t already stepped up patrols… it’s getting out of control up on the hill. I think the police have their hands tied because they’re afraid of being reprimanded for rubbing someone the wrong way. The mayor seems absent from just about everything lately. Maybe we should start our own patrols and beat the shit out of said groups just like they do to their victims –
Agreed. An ass-kicking is in order!
Vulordia, don’t you know that because of Michael brown and trayvon Martin were not allowed to suppose to judge people by their race, especially any black males. just because the majority of crimes reported in the few weeks are perpetuated by black males doesnt mean we can judge or accuse anyone.
Race is a subject that dares not speak its name in Seattle, or anywhere else for that matter.
I went to this presentation at NWFF last week about the macing of a young black man by a Westlake Center security guard, which was sort of tied into discussion of what happened in Ferguson. Folks on the panel spoke about the injustice that people of color face, which means they don’t get as good an education, as many job offers, or the benefit of the doubt from police or fellow citizens. I think this is true and that exclusion from the rewards that society promises for good behavior can lead people to decide that they might as well act poorly.
But, yes, I also notice the extremely high proportion of certain crimes in this neighborhood that are perpetrated by black men, and out of practical self preservation, I would cross a street to avoid a group of them. Just as I avoid the big groups of white oogles in Cal Anderson.
How can we have a discussion that admits both that there is still systemic injustice in this country that affects the choices that individuals make AND that groups of young black men basically constitute a health and safety threat to others?
If I had a dollar for each time people advocate for more foot patrols, I’d be a rich man. But it never seems to happen, and that’s a damn shame because it’s just common sense that they would help prevent crime.
I have never seen a foot patrol in this area, any would help
I’ve seen foot patrols stationed at the Broadway Shell station a couple times. This was around 1’ish am. I’m not sure how late into the wee hours they were there tho.
IMO, at the very least park a cruiser at that intersection or having them just circling the block would well into the 3 -4 am hours would do wonders.
And of course, you’ll always find a pair of Seattle’s Finsest hanging out in front of Dick’s on Broadway up until closing on the weekends, although there hasn’t been an incident there in quite a few years, SFAIA. But, perhaps Sabey pays for off-duty police to be there?
[…] increased patrols in the area following a call from the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce for more SPD presence on the streets of Pike/Pine, a prominent Capitol Hill business owner has sent a letter about “gang activity” on […]
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of SPD cars parked in the middle of Pike frequently (though I watched Pike street from my friends place on 11th and Pike one night when SPD WASN’T present and I heard at least 3 rolling burnouts in the middle of Pike).
They need all 12 of those officers on the six blocks between Union & Pine and Broadway to 12th all between the hours of 11pm and 3am. Or they could just post them outside problem areas like Cal Anderson, Grims, Q, and Rhino Room and that would be a good start.
[…] there have been no robberies as brazen as this late-August hold-up of a DJ at gunpoint outside the Odd Fellow building or this August 1st Cal Anderson robbery in which one victim was […]