Possibly three armed robberies in Ballard

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Updated: There have been at least two armed robberies in Ballard in the last week, and possibly three. The first robbery occurred at Sunset Hill Park just after midnight on Saturday night (see below), the second was on the 2800 block of NW 65th St early February 14th. Someone also posted in the forum that he was a victim of an armed robbery on Saturday night.

New: Early Monday morning, just after 1:30 a.m. a woman was robbed at gun point as she was walking along NW 65th St. The police report states that two males approached the woman from behind. When she turned to address them, one pulled out a black semi-automatic hand gun and pointed it at her. The second suspect demanded that she drop her handbag, which she did. The men picked up her bag as she ran toward her residence. The men also fled, she believes southbound on 28th Ave NW, although she wasn’t sure.

The woman told police that the both suspects are white males, about 20-years-old and were wearing baggy dark clothing. Police canvassed the area but couldn’t find the suspects. The victim, who wasn’t injured, told police that she could identify the suspects if she saw them again.

Also: “Unbelievable” says he was a victim of an armed robbery, although we couldn’t locate the police report. He writes in the MyBallard forum, “I was walking on Mary Ave on Saturday night at around 9pm. I was walking to the Waterwheel to meet up with some buddies of mine. All of a sudden, what I believed to be 2 white males quickly ran up behind me, screaming at me to get down and to give them my wallet. One male had what appeared to be a small black shotgun and the other had a big silver revolver. I handed over everything while they pointed these guns at my head. Then they took off running down the street and around the corner. They did not physically touch me. I was stunned, obviously, and maybe in shock. The whole incident lasted maybe 10 seconds but felt like a dream.

The people that robbed me appeared to be young – around 16 (maybe younger) and white, though they did have bandannas over their faces. They were short as one of the kids had to hold his arm up high to point the gun at my head. I’m 6 foot 2.

I sort of stumbled over to the Waterwheel and met up with my friends, still in disbelief and the police were called. What really struck me was that about 30 seconds after the incident, I was walking up the street and saw a woman just walking her dog and a couple of other people out for a stroll with absolutely no idea what had just happened to me. I felt bad for them and felt that they are potentially in danger every time they step out of their house for an innocent walk.”

Earlier:Just after midnight Saturday night (Sunday morning) a man was robbed at gunpoint at Sunset Hill Park (7500 block of 34th Ave NW.)

According to the police report released today, the victim went to the park to enjoy the view. He told police that he saw three males in the bushes who then approached him from behind, demanding his wallet. When the victim turned around he told police that two of them appeared to be armed – one with a shotgun, one with a handgun.

From the police report:

The victim’s initial reaction was that of disbelief, and he thought they were kidding at first. He said the suspects sounded unsure of themselves, “Almost more scared than I was.” The victim complied and gave the suspects his wallet, which contained his driver license and credit card, as well as $70 cash, which was kept seperate in a different pocket. One of the suspects then began to feel around the victim’s pockets, checking for other items. At this point they found the Zune MP3 player in his jacket pocket, and demanded that, as well as his wristwatch and AT&T HTC Pure cell phone.

The three appeared to be about 20 years old but had bandanas over their faces and hoodies pulled up over their head so only their eyes were showing, according to the police report. The victim could not give police a good description of the suspects.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

72 thoughts to “Possibly three armed robberies in Ballard”

  1. Sounds like the story posted on the forum about an attack near the Waterwheel. Shotgun and handgun and bandanna over the faces at the very least.

  5. I’m glad the swedes looked into this. I didn’t believe the story on the forum for some reason.

    I think these were kids with fake guns taking advantage of the inebriated.

  7. Note to the little sh*tbags who are doing this: you meet me late at night, and you’re either going to have to show me your little toy guns are real by shooting me, or else I’m going to kick your little snotty asses. Bring it, punk.

  9. OK, guys in this neighborhood, what about doing patrols, neighborhood watch stuff? Walking the streets, etc? This kind of crap is only going to keep happening as the economy worsens. Any word about the police stepping up patrols in the area?

  11. I thought the park was closed at night? At any rate, Ian Burke may be looking for a job soon. I suggest we hire him as neighborhood watch captain.

  12. I think the park is bright enough. More light would just ruin the atmosphere IMOH.

    I think the ‘patrols’ should include girls, too.

  14. How can they “close the park”? There aren’t fences big enough. Also, this doesn’t address the real issue(s) of crime and the excrement committing ’em. And why did the new LED program end @ 65th? What with SPD’s cavalier attitude towards shoplifters why would we expect ’em to now do anything about this and other crimes in our hood?

  15. the sign there says the park is closed at 11:30pm I believe other than special events. you don’t need a fence to close it, just a legit reason for cops to kick people out.
    what does the LED program have to do with this? those old lights still work, don’t they?
    I don’t know what shoplifting crime you’re referring to, but why should the spd waste resources on those petty crimes? I’d rather they focus on armed robbery myself.

  16. Yes, the park is “closed” late nights.

    I live just a few blocks from there. A couple years ago, I went up there to watch one of the annual meteor showers (IIRC, the Perseids, in August) . It was probably around 1 am, a nice, warm summer evening, with a reasonably clear sky. My wife and I had to work the next day, so we couldn’t drive for hours to get away from the city lights, and decided to just go lay in the park and watch the sky for a little while. We spread out a blanket and laid down. 5 minutes later, an SPD car pulled up to the curb, put their spotlight on us, and blurted over their PA system “the park is closed, leave now or you will be cited”. I walked over and explained to the officer that I lived nearby, we weren’t bothering anyone and just wanted to watch the sky for a while. He repeated that the park was closed and we had to leave or get a ticket. We gathered our stuff and went home grumbling.

  17. The old lights (which we still endure on NW 32nd, south of 65th) might still “work”, but they aren’t as bright as the new ones. I know some people say they have a smaller focus so there are more shadows, but I can see much, much better under those new lights.

    But while that might help me when I look out the window to check on a strange noise, it wouldn’t have made a difference at the park. Like someone said previously, those kids are going to be very sorry when they try to rob the wrong person.

  18. Yes those “old lights” work. I was responding to another comment about SHP being “dark at night” and the fact the LED streetlight program stopped @ 65th. As in being progressive. The fact a cop hassled somebody there 1 night is anecdotal. Do you not see all the shreds of human debris drinking, hanging, defecating in our yards/allies every day then stillrare? This IS real. I was also speaking about the recent story in where the SPD talked about not arresting shoplifters. I can’t make this bleep up.

  19. sr – ignoring more minor crimes such as shoplifting, aggressive panhandling, and graffiti leads to an increase in more serious crime as well, as people interpret the lack of enforcement as evidence of a more crime-tolerant community. This is often referred to as the “broken windows” theory — a famous example is the 1990s clean-up of New York City.

  21. The LED streetlight conversion didn’t stop at 65th, it’s just that south of 65th is Zone 3 and was scheduled to get converted in 2010; north of 65th is Zone 4 and is scheduled for conversion this year. Or did you expect SCL to magically convert the entire city in one night? The conversion is a five-year project with 5,000 lights converted in 2010 and another 35,000 to be converted over the next five years.

    The whining here is especially precious since Ballard is getting LED lights long before most of the rest of the City, despite our almost certainly having a street-crime and collision rate lower than most of the city. South Seattle won’t get them until 2012; Downtown, Cap Hill and the CD not until 2013; between Denny and the ship canal aren’t scheduled to be converted until 2014.

  22. It’s not too bright to be hanging out in a city part anywhere after it has closed. These little punks will eventually get what they deserve…but we all have to look out for ourselves regardless of the crime in a particular neighborhood. It’s called common sense!

  23. Is there a reason why they didn’t upgrade 32nd avenue, but fixed the lighting on the streets surrounding it? I don’t mean to be “precious”, but it seems like it would be a good idea to upgrade busy streets with bus routes.

  24. Kirk et all, I think a neighborhood patrol on weekend nights at least would be a great idea. I live by the Nordic Heritage Museum and cars pull up around that area (that are not from this neighborhood), drop beer cans out the window, people shuffle back and forth between said parked cars, sometimes peeing on sidewalk verges, all the while lighting up in the back of these cars. These people look about as questionable as it gets.

  26. I’m familiar with the ‘broken window theory’ and knew someone would bring it up.
    I think it’s fine for things like graffitti and vandalism, and even agressive panhandling, but I don’t think it would work for shoplifting.

    I mean, it’s the shopkeeper who needs to catch them, right? Should spd look at surveillance video of those not caught to catch them? don’t the police always come and arrest those people if the shopkeeper wants to press charges?

    or are you saying the penalties they get for getting caught are too light, and therefore do not provide a deterrent?

  27. NO. THAT’S NOT HOW SEATTLE WORKS NOW. When someone steals from a shop, and the suspect is detained, the police come and – here’s the crazytown part – if the stolen goods are worth less than $750, and it’s the perp’s first offense, THE POLICE JUST LET HIM GO – AND THAT’S THE END OF IT!

    This policy is well documented. It’s the City’s policy now – they say there’s no budget to prosecute these criminals.

    THERE IS *NO* DETERRENT.

  29. SPG – I have done. The police show up 30 minutes later and by that time they’ve gone. Police are too busy to check out everything suspicious on a Saturday night. There’s also nothing illegal about parking a car and sitting in it.

  31. Ahh good ole’ Ballard.

    I’ll be out with a machete, provoking passerby’s into a fit of terrified flight.

    Let’s see how many bullshit corny ass comments I can get from that.

  32. Scared? lol…wave a machete around, I’m begging you.

    Let’s see how many bullshit corny ass comments you can make after that.

  34. Maybe. I’ll take my chances.

    What I’m NOT willing to do is let thugs and scumbags take over our streets without a fight. They want my wallet? Not without a fight, punk. I doubt the little snots have real guns – bullies usually scare easily when someone finally stands up to them. And if they do have a real gun, fine, I’ll do my best to take one of the little f*cks with me.

    If you want to surrender without putting up a fight, that’s your business, I won’t criticize you for it. But I’ve had it with the creeps taking over Ballard.
    It stops with me.

  35. lived in Ballard for years, there were soft drugs then,,there is a hellof a lot more hard drugs now, the trash hits the streets after midnight…$20 buys a nites high..pack 2 wallets..one you can give away

  36. Call the police. Every time.

    Eventually one of two things will happen.
    1. The cops get too many calls about it and then have to do something to satisfy their call log stats and that means they patrol the area or park an unmarked car there and catch someone in the act.
    2. They come by when you call right away because you called in at the moment that nothing else is going on and they catch someone in the act.

    After scenarios 1 and 2 happen a couple times the word will get around and the kids smoking, drinking, and dealing in their cars will move on somewhere else. In the process the cops might actually catch someone who is also doing more dangerous stuff or they’ll at least give the appearance that the police here will do something. Right now it doesn’t seem that way very often.

  37. oh yeah, though it’s not illegal to sit in a car, it is illegal to drink in one, or possess drugs in one, or to deal drugs from one, and it’s rather easy for a cop to search one compared to searching a house.

  38. Would anyone like to go for a walk around the Community Center and Adams? I’ll be heading out by 8 and usually do a couple laps.

  40. As evidenced by the famous woodcarver vs. police situation, you can go ahead and fire 4 rounds into him if he has any kind of knife.

  43. If the power-house reporting team behind myballard manages to confirm there was a police report filed by “Unbelievable”, could they also check with Detective Jameson about the recent string of cat burglaries? I was told I could speak with him regarding the matter but never was able to get his contact info.

  48. 32nd isn’t unique in that regard. 24th, 15th, 85th, Market — none of them got LEDs. That’s because for now the conversion is only for non-arterial streets and residential areas (which, of course, account for the vast majority of Seattle’s streetlights). Before converting commercial areas and arterials like 32nd, SCL is conducting pilot projects in several locations around town.

    As for why they need to conduct pilot projects, they’re probably trying to get a better feel for the brightness of the LEDs relative to their old sodium counterparts. SCL seemed to have standards for the old sodium lamps (400W on arterials, 100W on residential, 250W for wide residential, etc), but they have no such standards for the LEDs. The only way to figure out how many and what type of LED you need for various environments is to try out a bunch of different configurations in those various environments and see how they work.

    I’ve no idea when the arterial/commercial pilot projects end, but once they do, you can expect 32nd—and all the other arterials around town—to make the switch shortly thereafter.

  49. Not trying to be a hero at all. That has nothing to do with it. Just trying not to be a sheep. I work really really freaking hard for my money, and if someone wants it, they are going to have to work harder!! I refuse to just give someone my money because they threaten me harm, if the punks really want to go shooting me and dealing with all that is going to come with that for my few dollars, then I say bring it!!

    I am willing to possibly die every time I get in my car. So why would I not be willing to die standing up to human trash?

  50. “Not from this neighborhood”? Please. The teenagers I see drinking and smoking down at Golden Gardens every day after school? Half the time the Volvo they’re hotboxing has a Free Ballard sticker on the bumper.

    These aren’t “outsiders” getting drunk and pissing in your yard; they’re your neighbors. Ballard kids get drunk and act like asses just the same as kids from the CD or Northgate or wherever. Except kids from the CD don’t have a damn clue where Webster Park or Salmon Bay or the bluff are. Those kids getting drunk and high in Ballard parks and pissing on Ballard lawns? They’re Ballard born & bred, my friend.

  53. This is the truth, but it is the half truth. The shoplifter can be fined the cost of stolen goods plus $200 by the business AND $500 from the city. Granted, a homeless person wouldn’t care, but anyone with money and hopes of a future would pay the fines or risk being sent to collections, which would screw over your credit.

  58. And? These people that are shoplifting under 750 are people just trying to feed themselves, trust me. I’ve been working as store security for the past 7 years. It’s only when you have upwards of a thousand that it’s people stealing and selling. The people under 750 are homeless and starving. This isn’t to defend them. And while there is no deterrent from the police. The offender still needs for pay a fine, as well as the cost of the items that were stolen. And if the fine is not paid, there is jail time. Is that not a deterrent? Jail sucks. Fines suck. Sucky things are deterrents

  59. Good. The park is closed. You violating that LAW opens the door for others. I wasn’t disturbing people, I was just sleeping. I just had to pee. I just wanted their money. etc.

  60. This is very alarming. I thought Ballard was a safe place to walk. I’ll add to the bad news – my car was stolen from my driveway on 12th near 70th the night of February 14th. What a shock not to find it there in the morning.

  62. Hate to report on more dumb’shitery but our house in Olympic Manor was burglarized on Wed. Partially our fault, we left the back door unlocked allowing the thief to walk into our house and take a brand new Mac laptop. This happened inbetween 8 am – 9:30 am. They’re watching our comings & goings!

  63. In reply to Kirk:
    I walked late tonight for an hour and saw 5 cop cars. And they were driving slow, as if they were looking down side streets. So yeah, they’re stepping it up. I usually only see 1 or 2 on my nighttime walks.
    But I love your idea about people forming their own patrols. If we could get 50 volunteers, and put them into 10 groups of 5 people, and give each group a certain number of blocks to cover….. that would be AWESOME!

  64. I walked late tonight for an hour and saw 5 cop cars. And they were driving slow, as if they were looking down side streets. So yeah, they’re stepping it up. I usually only see 1 or 2 on my nighttime walks.
    But I love your idea about people forming their own patrols. If we could get 50 volunteers, and put them into 10 groups of 5 people, and give each group a certain number of blocks to cover….. that would be AWESOME!

  65. It starts with vacant commercial buildings, which are soon covered in graffiti windows broken, gang tennis shoes tossed over phone wires, outdoor planters tipped over…then random late-night “stick ups” in the parks and side streets. Armed robberies in local businesses are next, and even worse. Geeze we Ballardites have got to wake up…

  67. Why does every one keep referring to these muggers as “little shits” “punks” etc.? Cripes! These people had an automatic revolver…that is some serious heat, likely gang related and really f*king scary. Will we take them more seriously once they actually shoot?

  69. I feel like all parents of teens in the area should ask themselves if they own any guns that match the description.
    No one ever thinks thier kid could do such a thing, but where are these kids getting these guns in the first place?

  71. they cant do shit, and why do you mark asses have to interfere? dont you guys realize that that area is a safe, nice spot to weigh out bags and deal drugs from? youre just forcing the kids to drive farther away, to find some random ass park, not one that we have grown up with in our lives, only to try and drunkenly drive our way back to houses near the park youre trying to rid us from. my point is, ballard should spread tolerance

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