Seattle Police this morning said they have arrested a suspect in a shoplifting/robbery incident at the J.C. Penny store at Northgate Mall on Saturday.
They believe he is the same suspect who shoplifted $800 in alcohol from a store on Northwest Market Street in Ballard earlier this month, police said.
In both cases the suspect was confronted by security officers at the store, and was found to be carrying weapons, said Detective Mark Jamieson, a police spokesman.
Shopliftings are common at the mall, and sometimes turn into assaults or robberies when they escalate. (If they remain shopliftings, we rarely report them.)
Jamieson’s full report:
Robbery detectives are investigating two North Seattle robberies that occurred in recent weeks believed to have been committed by the same suspect.
On the afternoon of Friday, July 12th, a lone white male entered a grocery store in Ballard and shoplifted $800 worth of alcohol. Store security confronted him as he was leaving the store. The suspect fought with security and pulled out a knife and attempted to stab one of the security officers. The suspect fled before police arrived.
On Saturday evening, July 20th, a similar incident occurred inside the J.C. Penny store at the Northgate Mall. The suspect was confronted by store security and fought with them after he was observed shoplifting. The suspect was detained and taken into custody by officers. Two knives were recovered from the suspect. The suspect was taken to the hospital after he was refused by the jail for a medical issue. The 53-year-old suspect was eventually booked into jail yesterday.
The detectives assigned the cases compared notes and determined that it was the same suspect. Both cases have been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. Robbery detectives continue to follow up on the investigations.
First and foremost, it is important to help people that only want a happy fantasy to understand that there may be a potential problem, here.If you read my post you will see that all is not unicorns, and flowers with the Portland light rail. Furthermore, you should notice that JIMMY, Mapleleafbob, Jeff,and Tim also have similar concerns.Jeff is a friend of mine and is a very knowledgeable attorney. Just based on what you and you little friends had to say about the events in Florida make you uncredible to me. That man was judged by his peers, and acquitted. Also, the jury was comprised of women, who are statistically less sympathetic to a man in his circumstances. What I personally believe is that you and your friends are a group of Constitution-busting Socialists. I have no desire to spend anymore time with you or your kind.
Editor: Enough. I’ve closed comments.
I’m not running any community meeting. Further I haven’t been to any of the light rail meetings. Don’t use me as an excuse. What do you think the solution to your perceived problem is? That’s all I’m saying. I pick and choose my battles with the city. And I have had many battles. I am giving you hard earned advise. Always come with your plan B and plenty of support for it. Just whining never works.
SUE, it is becoming clear that your community meeting group has only one agenda( yours ), and that you are all supremely closed-minded to any possible outcomes that don’t fit the parameters of that agenda. You can count me out.
My thoughts too Alex only I would suggest a move to Florida, not Detroit.
Was that $800 of booze before tax? Can they count the tax amount in calculating the magnitude of the crime?
Could be the difference between petty larceny and grand larceny.
May be time for many of you to move to a gated community. Holy cow, the paranoia and finger pointing at all these future criminals is amazing to me. Be aware, alert, and smart about home protection. And thankful that we are fortunate enough to live in such a wonderful part of such a wonderful country. Or move to Detroit.
Sue, it is clear that there are people in our community that don`t believe as you do. This is one of those things on their minds. I`m sorry that this sounds tedious to you.
Interesting this turned into a conversation about light rail AGAIN. I think we can all agree that crime is something to consider regarding the coming of light rail but can we do this in a constructive way? Go to the meetings. Have ideas for solutions and don’t just piss and moan. There are many studies that show peoples perceptions greatly influence outcomes. It will be what you make it.
http://oregoncatalyst.com/3353-New-TriMet-Lines-Expand-Liabilities.html Here is some more useful information regarding the same light rail line.
@Tim McB:
That is funny. Great minds think alike 🙂
Perhaps I should elaborate on that last post; I am not indicating that the renters are causing the crime, although that could indeed happen. I am saying that with renters moving in and out as is the nature of many renters, that they are less likely to know their neighbors, and who belongs nextdoor, and who doesn`t.
Dear Mapleleaf Bob, and Tim McB.., Thank you for your insight. I wonder if the notion that renters themselves are transient and don`t have a vested intrest in the community have something to do with the increase in crime, as well.
Maple Leaf Bob we had the same idea. I was just 5 minutes later than you. 🙂
Here’s a fairly even handed article recently written up about Portland’s Max line for those interested in looking at crime stats for comparision:
http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/jun/10/light-rail-blight-or-bliss/
Here is an interesting article on light rail in Portland (MAX) and the planned expansion to Vancouver, WA. It supports various claims made throughout this comment chain.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/jun/10/light-rail-blight-or-bliss/
The article’s information about crime can be viewed in a couple ways. It’s hard to really claim whether or not the overall crime rate is directly related to the light rail or just normal shifts that occurs over time.. I am not trying to say that crime will skyrocket, but I find it very hard to believe that crime would go down simply due to the light rail as the article mentions.
One interesting point is the concept of light rail increasing the percentage of rentals in places that were normally low in the number of rentals. There are definitely arguments against increasing the number of rentals, especially single family homes. People tend not to care for houses they are renting as much as their own, which can start to hurt a neighborhood over time and actually chip away at initial property value gains. The good thing about Seattle is that values will stay strong compared to other places because of our industries and landscape. We can’t really go out further out in the desert and build track home neighborhoods like they do in Arizona or Nevada. Now, if we can just keep too many people from moving here we will be ok 🙂
Dear Dan, I am not trying to create fear, just open the eyes of those around me that think this light rail won`t have any negative consequences for our neighborhood. I would like to direct you to the area around the I-5 on ramps at Northgate. The transients have all but pulled down the chain link fences there to get to the green space next to it. You can`t even walk to that McDonalds without being hasseled by some homeless person.Given a covered area to provide them with shelter ( the light rail terminal), a place to pan-handle, sell drugs, or whatever crime they are into, we will see them come.There will be a built-in opportunity for their crimes in the daily commuters, and the cars they leave behind.
If you compare the buses to the light rail, it is apples and oranges. The light rail is much less apt to pull over and kick off trouble makers. Pull over where? Furthermore, it is one continuous loop with the light rail, rather than a series of transfers which makes it less likely troublemakers will be removed.The metro tunnel is a good example of the crime to be expected, except there will be far less police oversight. I personally have had friends mugged at that bus tunnel.
I agree with Rob. We need to protect ourselves with burglar alarms, lots of outdoor lighting, and installing The Club on our cars. I think light rail will bring more crime, and we will have to protect ourselves, because we can’t expect increased help from the police.
Rob, you’re paranoid without any proof it will happpen. There are express buses from downtown to Northgate running all the time currently, the light rail will actually be slower. Reality check on transients – they gather where social services are located, where there is access to liquor stores/booze, where there is access to cheap food. None of which are close to the Northgate transit center. You are making things up and trying to fear monger. I’m excited to be able to ride the light rail, I plan to use it alot, and I’m extra excited for the boost in home values it will bring. Stop living your life in fear and start living it.
Yes Nan, you do indeed sound messed up.
Thugs hike up hill from light rail station at Northgate to raid single-family dwellings in Maple Leaf. Those will be some fit, ambitious robbers who can run mighty fast and have their transit schedules memorized. Boy will they depend on those trains to run on time for quick getaways! I wonder if that’s how some felt about the bus route 7 Lake City /7 Rainier. Anyone been around long enough to remember that line? Personally, I’d be more concerned about the
the future expansion of bus routes heading our way from Ballard. Those people have a history of raping and pillaging throughout the globe, no? I confess, I’m even remotely related to some of them.
Dan, reread my post. I mentioned light items such as cash, jewelry, etc…, not HDTV sets. Maple Leaf is an affluent neighborhood. With easy access in and out via a light rail, no transferring required the way one would on a bus system, and built-in weather protection for homeless, light rail is a crime waiting to happen. There are already statistics of people being accosted on it at other locations. You are the one that needs a reality check. Take off your rose-colored glasses.
Rob, house thieves use cars or vans to haul their loot and get away fast, you can’t carry an HDTV 15 blocks and hope a bus or train without people being suspicious. My house was robbed a couple years ago, they eventually caught the kids, they lived in our neighborhood (Maple Leaf Life published the 18 year old’s name and address) and were robbing our houses during their lunchbreaks from school.
You folks that are scared of crime because of mass transportation need a serious reality check. Move to the burbs if you are so scared of what a better mass transit system will do for the city.
Or, how about people breaking into your house when you are at work looking for cash, jewelry, drugs…,things light, easy to steal. Seriously? You couldn’t’t come up with that on your own?
Re: light rail and increased crime. Let’s see if I can imagine your scenario. “Hey – let’s pay an extra $2, $3, $4 to ride that train to the end of the line so we can go terrorize those NIMBYS in Maple Leaf. We’ll have to steal light stuff, however, so we can pack it back it all back south on the train. Better yet, maybe we should just rape and murder, less baggage that way” Wink wink
Jimmy, you are so right. It frustrates me that some people just can’t understand the volume of strangers that could potentially be wandering our neighborhood once that light rail descends upon us.
Crime in Northgate PRIOR to the arrival of light rail? Say it ain’t so!
At least the crooks don’t tend to climb hills, being lazy and shiftless sorts. They isn’t too smart neither.
Looking forward to the increase in my home’s value with the arrival of rail.
I did not vote for it, think it is a waste of money. But we are getting light rail, even without my blessing.
The Seattle Monorail is the only public transit system in the US that pays for itself with money from fares.
Are they going to put the waterfront streetcar back into operation when the viaduct comes down? We should connect the monorail to either end of the streetcar to get an ersatz circulator system downtown.
Thanks to the police for doing a good job, if the courts do theirs we may see this guy spend some quality time in lock up.
Why? That seems irrational. Northgate has had the bus transit lines connected to it for 20 years. I take the bus from Northgate to downtown, Ballard and Fremont fairly often. Stop living your life in fear.
Expect a lot more of this when the transit lines are connected at Northgate.