Prolific ZEB taggers hit Ballard

Geeky Swedes Ballard

The ZEB taggers have hit many neighborhoods in Seattle including Downtown, Belltown, Capitol Hill and now Ballard. “The ZEB tag has been pretty prolific in the downtown core,” Detective Mark Jamieson with the Seattle Police Department tells us. “We don’t know the significance of it.”

Sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning, multiple ZEB tags were painted along Market Street, including on the Bergen Place Park mural. “This time the damage is worse than last time. It will take a lot to fix it,” Victoria Sangrey-Hunter, the volunteer coordinator with Friends of Bergen Place tells us, “I am angry, sad and at a loss for words.”

Seattle Police arrested two teenage boys from Everett last weekend, who they believe tagged several buildings with the ZEB tags. The teens were later released to their legal guardians. A 21-year-old male was also arrested on July 14th for the same tags.

There are different styles of ZEB, Detective Jamieson tells us, “Detectives believe the ones arrested aren’t the only ones involved.”

Detective Jamieson says that if a business or citizen has video surveillance of the actual tags being painted, they would love to see it. He also says that any businesses tagged over the weekend should call 911 or the non-emergency line so the graffiti can be documented. (Thanks Justin at CapitolHillSeattle.com for the tip!)

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

59 thoughts to “Prolific ZEB taggers hit Ballard”

  7. I agree with the others.

    these ‘zeb'(ra) taggers probably feel like heroes now with all this publicity. better not to have a story like this at all.

  8. Yes, please stop doing this.

    If you feel you must post photos, why not just host them and link them in the article? That way people can see them if they want, but you’re not giving vandals front-page exposure.

  13. this is why we can’t have nice things. i agree this pictures should be taken down but obviously myballard wants as many clickthroughs on its ads as it can get.

  14. maybe we should all tag our own homes and businesses with this “zeb” tag, that way we won’t feel personally violated, and imagine the horror on these kids’ faces when they realize everybody has jumped on their bandwagon, and they can no longer be cool and special.

  20. Why isn’t the Bergen Place Mural coated with the anti-grafitti coating?I know it’s costly but certainly not more than repairing the images.

    Tagging is such a vicious thing and the fact property owners are fined by the city daily for this mischief in a down economy is worse. One person with time on their hands and a spray can does plenty of damage unchecked.

    If you see someone doing this call the police right away.

  22. As a side note, the bus stop that is at the North end of the Ballard Bridge was also heavily hit. The area with the tin metal fence.

    P.S. Completely disagree with the oddballs who call for the removal of photos. Bobo’s in Paradise.

  23. I saw those tags while I was driving down Leary, and they only really caught my attention because I watched the KING5 story about the tagger(s) the other day. It’s too bad that graffiti is such a fact of life that I don’t even notice it any more.

  24. Take photo down!

    Also, those kids who were released to legal guardians? Eff that. Charge them, and put them to work cleaning graffiti.

  25. I don’t see what the big deal is about posting the pictures. It’s public realm. If you think the toddlers with the paint get some kind of rush by seeing the pictures on-line, you’re wrong. They don’t give a shit either way.

  26. These “legal guardians” should march said punks to these places with whatever it takes to clean up the ones that can be done by punks. Then give me to the owners of the places they can not clean, as slaves, to be held like slaves, until they earn their freedom.. smile

  29. Why take the pictures down? They’d just go up on Flickr or elsewhere.

    Keep them up and NEVAR FORGET what these kids have done.

  30. Can we just put up photos of the arrested taggers instead?

    We could then post those photos at all businesses in Seattle and have the taggers denied service.

  31. I am like most Americans, not a big fan of the Taliban. But I do think in these circumstances that a little Taliban justice would send a message to other little punks about defacing others property.

  36. Leave it. These toady little shyts don’t know how to read and certainly aren’t going to check community news forum for glory.

    ZEB = “Look, I’m an a-hole!”

  41. Zeb (i had no idea what that said until I saw it here) has apparently been busy in South Lake Union as well. There is an empty storefront on Westlake with every one of its dozen large plate glass windows tagged.

    Idiot.

  43. Tagging is a time honored way of impressing girls with low standards and daddy issues. It’s also an effective way demonstrating one’s ability to climb fire escapes.

  44. To the folks that think that it’s not a good idea to take down the photos – these guys link to their photos online on graffiti sites – not only do they post their photos on tagger, but sites like this add to their glory.

    TAKE’M DOWN!

  45. BTW – this bozo got busted in Portland

    PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU NEWS RELEASE
    Portland Police Arrest Tagger After Pursuit
    Posted: July 21, 2010 01:25 PM

    On July 21st, 2010 at approximately 3:45 A.M., Portland Police Officers received a call that a security guard was chasing a suspected tagger and that the tagger had just stolen a cab. Officers responded to the call and began looking for the suspect and the cab.

    At approximately 4:00 A.M., officers located the cab in northwest Portland. A pursuit began after officers attempted to stop the vehicle. After a several minute long pursuit officers elected to terminate the pursuit. The suspect continued to flee and eventually crashed at the N.W. Front Avenue on ramp to the Steele Bridge. The suspect then fled on foot.

    Officers located the suspect near N.W. 5th Avenue and N.W. Glisan Street. The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Samuel Lehtinen. He was arrested for attempting to elude by vehicle, attempting to elude on foot, fail to perform the duties of a driver, reckless driving, robbery in the third degree (the suspect allegedly used force in taking the vehicle) and unauthorized use of motor vehicle.

  46. THE BTM/3A GENTLEMENS LEISURE CLUB FULLY SUPPORTS THE ACTIONS OF YOUNG ZEB. IN THIS YOUNG MANS HONOR WE (BTM/3A CREW) ARE GOING TO CONSUME LARGE AMOUNTS OF STEROIDS,TEQUILA AND COCAINE THIS WEEKEND AND SPEND OUR TIME IN BELLTOWN TAGGING 10000 TREES! 10000! THATS RIGHT, YOU READ CORRECTLY. ZEB IS THE MEANING AND ESSENCE OF AWESOME. ALL YOU PEASANTS SHOULD BOW DOWN IN THE PRESENCE OF SUCH GREATNESS…… TERD BTM/3A

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