Guns were at the center of a burst of crime around Capitol Hill overnight Saturday into Sunday morning. In addition to the E Pike shooting incident, police were called to a gunpoint robbery on 14th Ave E between Harrison and Republican around 10:30 PM. One person stopped nearby the crime was carrying what police say was an illegal concealed pistol. Police were able to track down the suspect in the hold-up and seize yet another pistol thanks to the victim’s phone tracking:
Police arrested two suspects and seized two guns after a late night robbery on Capitol Hill.
Officers spoke with a man who had just been robbed at gunpoint around 10:30 PM Saturday night. The victim recounted that as he was walking in the 400 block of 14 Ave East, a man approached, pointed a gun at him and demanded his “stuff”. Gun in hand, the suspect made off with the victim’s wallet and cellphone.
Based on the victim’s description, officers stopped a man near 11 Ave and East Howell Street. Though the victim was unable to confirm if this man was his robber, the detained man was illegally carrying a concealed pistol.
Police booked the 21-year-old man into King County Jail for unlawfully carrying a concealed pistol, and the handgun was submitted as evidence.
The victim then reported to officers that his phone was tracking in the area of 27 Ave and E Yesler Way. Officers went to the intersection and stopped a car hurriedly trying to avoid the police presence.
Officers located the filched phone inside the car and the victim verified the driver had been his gun wielding robber from earlier. Police impounded the robber’s vehicle and will await a warrant before recovering the handgun, which the suspect admitted, is inside the car.
Officers booked the 22-year-old man into King County Jail on investigation of armed robbery.
Good work SPD.
Nice going, cops! Keep up this level of attention, and no doubt street incidents will go down.
I wonder, though, if the first guy was booked by mistake, will the charges hold up? I mean, we don’t have stop and frisk laws here. Sounds like they stopped him because he matched a description, but he wasn’t the guy. That’s a bad way for the cops to be getting convictions — by mistake.
Basically, if the guy reasonably matched the suspect’s description and was in the same area, the police can conduct a so-called “Terry stop” and briefly investigate whether he was the suspect, including patting him down for officer safety (or asking him if he’s carrying any weapons). If the stop is conducted legally and he turns out to be a different guy who just happens to have an illegal gun, bad luck (and bad decision) for him. His defense counsel will move to suppress the evidence of the gun on the basis that the stop was based on mistaken identity, but will tend to lose unless there was something substantially unreasonable about the stop.