CHS has learned of another group mugging. The latest incident occurred late Sunday night as the victim was walking on East Howell near Boylston. We’ve also compiled a tally of reported Capitol Hill area robberies so far this year. More on that below.
In Sunday night’s mugging, the victim told police he and a friend were walking when they noticed a large group of six to seven had started to follow them. One of the people in the group ran up to the victim from behind and punched him in the face. With the victim now on the pavement, he was kicked and beaten and was told that his attackers had a gun as his wallet was grabbed and the group fled the scene. The suspect who struck the man was described only as a black male in his 20s, according to the police. An area check for the group failed to turn up the suspect.
The attack is very similar to another group mugging reported last Wednesday on First Hill near Minor and Union. In that attack, a man also lost his wallet after a group of attacked him on the sidewalk.
On Monday, we posted the results of our analysis of Capitol Hill’s reported crime totals in comparison to totals across the entire city. That data showed that we suffer about 5% of the city’s muggings — for all crimes, Capitol Hill is responsible for only about 6% of the city’s totals meaning we actually have it OK, considering. In all, Capitol Hill suffers one reported street robbery every three days. The city as a whole suffers about three per day according to our data. Here are the monthly reported robbery totals CHS has tallied for 2010.
At this pace, we’re due for about four more muggings this month. (Quick note on the numbers: These totals include all reported crimes including a relatively few instances where police were unable to determine that a crime had occurred.)
One silver lining: none of September’s street robberies have involved guns. The Hill suffered a spate of Airsoft-powered hold-ups in spring and a few incidents of hold-ups involving pistols through the summer including this early August incident.
To get a better sense of where these robberies are happening, here are two maps from SeattleCrime.com. On the left, we’ve plotted the full year of reported Capitol Hill and nearby robberies. On the right you can see the most recent three months. Each map links to a live version on SeattleCrime. Sorry, we’re unable to embed the live maps here.
The dot maps are always a little freaky — looks a little like a war zone. Keep the grid totals in mind when looking at all these dots. One incident every few days adds up fast.
So what can be done with this violent group (it has to be linked to the 18th and Harrison mugging). Do we just read in angst until someone gets killed by their head hitting the sidewalk or kicked in? I can’t wait until they encounter someone that is ready for their attack, at this point, it is the only way they will be caught. Please be aware and go with your gut feelings, if you feel danger, react to it quickly.
Even if you’re ready for the attack, you’re going to have a hard time defending yourself against 6 or 7 thugs. Your advice about being aware and trusting your instincts is important, and potentially a lifesaver. I’m surprised at the lack of street-smarts I see displayed throughout this city. Every self-defense seminar I’ve attended focused on remaining aware, judging a situation and always being ready to get out of there before a confrontation arises. I think we all could benefit from this knowledge. Maybe the Sisters could include community self-defense classes as part of the return of Q-Patrol.
Also, I think Hillsters are more tolerant of strange behavior and suspicious persons and less likely to call it in. We should all be watching out for each other and calling the police to report questionable activity.
I’m sure the number of muggins is actually higher. A friend of mine was mugged by two guys who jumped out of the bushes AT MY APARTMENT BUILDING and he wouldn’t call it in because he was too embarrassed.
ride a bicycle
There’s at least one important element missing from J’s stats: Population.
Just telling us we have 5% of the city’s muggings isn’t enough to draw any conclusions about relative safety (or danger). Show us per capita crime numbers for Capitol Hill and other hoods and that’s much more useful information.
Bah. I already had this discussion offline a few dozen times. All the stats in this piece would have the same population factor so it wouldn’t add much in the discussion. The measure here is what % of total crime each category represents compared to citywide totals. The interesting items fall above and below Capitol Hill’s ‘average’ 6% crime contribution. Population and density are a different discussion.
Thank you for continuing to share the information and the greater context. Do you happen to know the time of the latest incident? It’s quite close to my place and this is the first I’ve heard of it.
Ummm…..
It’s interesting in an academic sense that the odds of getting mugged on the Hill are lower than the odds of getting busted for possession on the Hill. That’s the type of info 6% vs 5% gets us. But it’s tough to see how that advances our understanding of how safe our neighborhood is or isn’t.
Per-capita data would tell us what our *individual* odds of being affected by a crime is in a given area. That’s got to be relevant to any discussion about crime and safety in the neighborhood. (Also maybe it’s a clue that it’s relevant if you’ve gotten dozens of responses about it :-)
If you don’t have per-capita stats for Capitol Hill and comparable areas, that’s fine, but “Bah – that’s not the stat I chose to focus on” is a surprisingly prickly response.
i agree with s: these statistics are lacking. i’d be interested in population. plus, how many neighborhoods are being counted? who is capitol hill being compared to? and what are their numbers? comparing capitol hill crimes to the rest of the city doesn’t give me any useful data. i’d love to see a breakdown by neighborhood. are there more accurate stats compiled by the spd?
All the stats in the world are absolutely meaningless to those who were mugged and victimized by this marauding band of thugs. My pistol only has 5 shots, maybe it’s time to pack a backup piece.