SPD is seeking help identifying the suspect in a January 18th armed robbery inside the 14th and John Safeway. More information and images are posted here.

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• 22nd Ave E armed robbery: A woman told police she was held up and had a knife held to her throat in an armed robbery reported near 22nd and John early Saturday morning. According to the SPD brief on the robbery, the woman said she was parked on 22nd facing John around 2 AM smoking a vape pen with the vehicle’s window partially down when the suspect thrust a knife toward her and pushed the window down as the victim tried to roll it up. “The unknown person then placed the knife against the victim’s neck and demanded she give over her money,” SPD reports. “The victim told him that she did not have money, the unknown person then took her cell phone and two credit cards.” Police say they searched the area where the suspect was last seen fleeing southbound on 22nd Ave E near the Aegis Living facility with a K9 unit but were not successful. Efforts to track the victim’s phone also came up short. There were no reported significant injuries and no arrests.
• Safeway shoplifting turns armed robbery: Police were looking for the public’s help identifying a man shown on security video threatening people with a knife in an early morning shoplifting melee inside the Capitol Hill Safeway. According to the SPD brief on the 5:20 AM, Tuesday, January 18th incident, the man was reportedly seen stealing several items and pulled the large knife after being confronted by employees. “One employee was able to take the knife from the suspect, but the man then walked to a different aisle and grabbed another large knife,” the SPD report reads. “The suspect then held the knife above his head and walked toward the employees, who ran to get away from him. The man then fled the store with the knife and the stolen merchandise in his bags.” SPD posted images from the security video and a description of the man here. If you can help identify the man, contact the SPD Robbery Unit at (206) 684-5535 or email the case detective at [email protected].
• First Hill crisis standoff: Police responded to First Hill early Saturday morning after a person being transported by ambulance during a reported mental health crisis forced the vehicle to stop, exited the vehicle, then “ran into traffic, jumped on top of stopped vehicles, rolled and crawled on the ground and underneath the ambulance,” according to the SPD brief on the 12:15 AM incident. A standoff ensued on University St. after the person assaulted a member of the ambulance crew trying to help remove the patient from underneath the vehicle. Police say the person ran at arriving officers but was taken into custody without further incident when one officer prepared to deploy their taser. There were no reported significant injuries. Police say the patient was “secured into a gurney and sedated by a medic prior to being transported to Harborview Medical Center by the Medic unit.”
• School bus assault: Police arrested a woman Tuesday morning in Yesler Terrace after she reportedly assaulted a child, spit on a school bus driver, and stole the keys to the vehicle before fleeing on foot. According to the SPD report on the incident, Police were called to the intersection of Broadway and Yesler Way around 8:45 Tuesday morning for a report of a woman acting erratically on a school bus. According to SPD, a 12-year-old victim said she was at the bus stop waiting to go to school when the woman approached her. The victim said the woman began yelling and then struck her with a plastic water bottle. The victim’s bus pulled up and the victim quickly boarded, but the suspect followed the victim onto the vehicle where she reportedly spit on the driver and stole the keys to the bus before fleeing on foot. The 44-year-old was taken into custody and booked into King County jail for vehicle theft and multiple counts of assault.
• Montlake assaults: SPD reports it took a suspect into custody after a series of assaults on the shores of Lake Washington near Montlake in a Monday, January 17th incident:
  At 11:25 am., a 911 caller reported an attempted strong-arm robbery on Marsh Island near the Montlake Cut. Three women were taking photos at a lookout on the lakeside walking trail when the suspect tried to grab one of the women’s phones from her hand. She held on and struggled with the man, and when her friend tried to protect her, he pushed the second woman into the lake. The man then ran off up the trail and the woman was pulled from the lake by her friends. Within minutes, another caller reported a man had pushed her off the trail into the lake after grabbing her 18-month-old daughter away from her. She said the suspect came up behind them and grabbed her daughter by the hood of her jacket. He lifted the toddler and tossed her to the side of the trail, causing her to scream and cry. When the mother tried to go to her daughter, the man grabbed her by the front of her jacket and pushed her into the lake. He left the scene, and a witness spotted him traveling north across the Montlake Bridge towards the University of Washington.
  SPD says it notified the University of Washington Police Department which recognized the suspect who had been in the UW Medical Center earlier that morning and threw water on an employee before fleeing. Around 1 PM, another assault was reported along 30th Ave NE where witnesses reported a suspect had run up behind a female jogger and tripped her as she ran. Police say the suspect attempted to run away as officers arrived but was taken into custody. SPD says the 33-year-old man was booked into King County Jail for robbery, assault of a child, and attempted abduction of a child.
• Capitol Hill burglaries: In this report on the theft of an important keepsake from 12th Ave bar Canon, CHS noted multiple break-ins at E Pike venue Life on Mars as an example of another crime headache for neighborhood bars already struggling with pandemic challenges. It’s a sad function of the pandemic. There were about three reported burglaries per day in 2019 at homes and businesses across the East Precinct. These days, the number is closer to five — and will likely climb higher when December and January’s totals come in. With many businesses temporarily shuttered, reduced hours of operation, and fewer people out and about on the street in 2020, reported East Precinct burglaries leapt 61% and maintained a similar rate as 2021 began before dropping and tumbling — briefly — back to pre-pandemic levels when things opened up more fully during the summer. The latest data available from the city show totals through November when COVID cases again began to climb along with business staffing issues. As SPD’s next reports for December and January roll in, omicron’s surge and even more challenges with staffing issues leaving many venues more darkened and empty than usual will surely result in another jump in the numbers.

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