#meanwhile ...in Washington State
Officers responded to reports of 5 males wearing masks who abandoned a running vehicle in the middle of the 8000 block of 16th Avenue Northwest. While en route, officers learned the males had stolen another vehicle and sped away. Witnesses were able to provide police with both plates and officers learned one car was involved in an armed robbery earlier in the day.
Based on the description of the males, and the pattern in the way the crimes were committed, detectives suspected they were a group of juvenile males behind a crime spree that started at the end of April. Officers assigned to SWAT, Patrol and Detectives from various units flooded the area. A Patrol unit was able to locate the vehicle and then King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit, Guardian One, began to track it.
SPD’s SWAT Team moved in position behind the car and after a brief pursuit, the juveniles crashed into another uninvolved vehicle at the intersection of Northwest 80th Street and 15th Avenue Northwest. No major injuries were reported in the collision. Three of the suspects were immediately apprehended, one was caught after a short foot pursuit. The fifth was located by the helicopter hiding in a nearby yard and taken into custody.
Detectives believe the juveniles are connected to series of crimes starting on April 29th. Over the next several weeks these juveniles allegedly committed more than a dozen robberies, assaults, auto thefts and hit and runs. In one day, they allegedly robbed a convenience store in the 1500 block of East Madison Street at gunpoint, tried to run over a man with their vehicle at the Magnuson Park Boat Launch, and assaulted woman in the 9200 block of Woodlawn Avenue North
One 16-year-old, one 15-year-old, one 14-year-old, and two 12-year-old males were transported to the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center and booked on multiple felonies.
