Guest Speaker: Detective Joe Gagliardi from the King County Sheriff’s Office and Burien Police Department Gang Unit will discuss what residents of White Center should know about gangs. Det. Gagliardi is one of the region’s foremost experts on criminal street gangs and has spoken in schools, courts, and community centers throughout King County. After serving with the Fairfield (CA) Police Dept., Det. Gagliardi has been working in White Center and Burien for years, making him uniquely knowledgeable about local gang issues.

Involvement: The Block Watch program will be highlighted and residents will be encouraged to get connected.

Forum: A discussion with Deputy BJ Myers about how to keep White Center safe and feeling safe.

That’s exactly one week after NHUAC’s next monthly meeting.

9:16 PM: Thanks to those who tipped us about a major King County Sheriff’s Office presence just south of the White Center business district. Deputies were at Pawn Pros, where an employee’s spouse tells us the store was robbed tonight for the second time in less than two months, reportedly by six robbers, armed with “guns and bats.” No word of arrests so far.

10:09 PM: Channel 4 quotes KCSO as saying four men robbed the store, takeover style, and that they’re reviewing surveillance video. The TV account says one employee was hurt; our tipster’s spouse “got hit with (a) bat on the shoulder,” per the Twitter report.

12:49 PM WEDNESDAY: King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West says detectives are still working on getting that surveillance video. The only descriptions of the four robbers, she says, are that they were “black males” who got away on foot, with “an unknown amount of jewelry and cash.” At least one had a gun, the others had baseball bats, and they ordered everyone in the shop to get down on the ground.

11:25 AM UPDATE: From Sgt. West, more information about the theft case: Deputies were on “random foot patrol” in the WC business district just before 11 pm Saturday when, according to the report, they:

…observed two males, late teen’s in age running diagonally from the SE corner of 16th / Roxbury toward the Tri-Angle Pub. One of the males was carrying what appeared to be a six pack of what I assumed to be alcohol.

Believing the nearby White Center Mini Mart at 1505 Sw Roxbury had been the victim of a beer theft, I ran to the business to check things out. Deputy kept visual contact with the two subjects who were still running north on 16th Sw from Roxbury.

As I approached the front door of the Mini Mart, the owner and clerk approached the door and pointed in the direction I observed the males running. I aske if he’d been a victim of theft, specifically beer and he said yes. Upon obtaining this information, I immediately radioed who was now in foot pursuit of the two subjects.

As the subjects ran, they dropped one 16 oz can of beer at the alley just west of the White Center Mini Mart.

I ran in the general direction of deputy and caught up with him near the 9100 block of 16th Sw; just south of Sw Henderson St within the City of Seattle.

The subjects were last seen just south of Sw Henderson St and had cut back west into several condominiums and apartment units within the block between Sw Barton and Sw Henderson Streets.

An area check for the subjects was conducted utilizing Guardian One and other foot units in the area. The subjects were not located and believed to be in one of several homes in the area.

The two subjects were described as follows:

1-Black male, late teens, 5-10, 140 wearing a black beanie, brow hooded jacket, and jeans.

#2-Unk race male, possibly light skinned black or Hispanic, 5-8/5-10, 135, black baseball cap with gold logo, black or dark colored jacket, jeans and white shoes. This subject was observed with the stolen beer in hand at time of on-view.

The second male suspect was wearing some form of hood up covering his head and face. This was determined via store surveillance system.

We’re at the King County Courthouse downtown, where Cu Van Truong has just made his first appearance to answer the charge of first-degree murder in last month’s shooting at Seattle Roll Bakery. Truong is 25 years old and accused of murdering 24-year-old Jason Saechao in what court documents describe as an argument over jewelry and romance. Family members of the victim filled two rows in the courtroom.

During this morning’s brief hearing, Truong pleaded not guilty. Famliy members gasped and sobbed upon first sight of him walking into the glass-walled-off hearing area a few yards away from where they sat. Afterward, the victim’s aunt, Maeseng Chao, spoke with the media on behalf of the family, saying that today’s court hearing was the first time she had seen the victim’s mother cry. She said that they are having difficulty understanding why this happened, but she personally has faith in the justice system. We will add video from today’s hearing when we are back at HQ.

11:11 AM: We have added two video clips – first the hearing itself, less than two minutes long, which ended with a date set of January 26th for Truong’s next court appearance. The second is Jason Saechao’s aunt’s statement outside the courtroom after the hearing.

ADDED 2:29 PM: New details – Investigators say three people were there, besides the suspect and victim. The charging documents detail the story that investigators were originally told about the shooting happening in the course of a robbery. One of the witnesses said that Saechao “had been badmouthing Cu around town and that Saechao said he wanted to apologize to him for doing that. (She) said she went to the bakery with Saechao and that (another witness) was already there working. She said Cu called her and she put Saechao on the phone so he could apologize. She said Cu arrived at the bakery and that Saechao and Cu went outside and argued. She said they came in and that Cu shot Saechao. She said she initially lied about the shooting because before Cu left the bakery after the shooting, he threatened to harm anyone who said anything.”

The documents go on to say that the other witness “was called back to the scene” and re-interviewed after being told the new story about what happened. At that time, he changed his story and said it had to do with a relationship between him and the aforementioned female witness, who he had been dating while Saechao was in jail. The argument, this witness said, started with a necklace that his mother was paying for but that he said Saechao took from “as payback for being with (the female witness),” according to the court documents. When Truong showed up the morning of the shooting, documents say, he “told Saechao to ‘Give his little homie back his necklace’,” at which time the male witness reportedly told Truong to stay out of his business.

As Truong and Saechao continued to argue, prosecutors say, “Truong turned and pulled a handgun from his waistband and began shooting at Saechao. (The male witness) said it looked like Truong shot Saechao first in the leg and that he walked to the side of Saechao and shot him several more times and finally in the head.” (Court documents say the autopsy showed Saechao was shot four times.)

After detailing how the witnesses decided to make up the robbery story because Truong threatened them, the male and female witnesses told investigators that Truong had left the bakery in a ’90s 500-series white BMW.

Detectives found that car at Truong’s sister’s house, which was put under surveillance, and when three people got into it and left, it was stopped, and Truong was arrested.

Subsequently interviewed by detectives, he denied being at the bakery that morning, denied shooting Saechao, and said he doesn’t carry guns. His sister, though, said she had seen him with one about a month ago. She also said she got a phone call from one of the witnesses at 7 am that morning saying that Truong had killed Saechao. At that point, the sister said, she called her brother, who said he was in the High Point area (where he lives) and asked her to pick him up, but she said she never asked him about what the female witness had told her in the earlier call.

Truong’s record is described in court documents as three robbery convictions in 2006, a conviction for false reporting in 2006, one for residential burglary in 2003, and one for taking a motor vehicle in 2003.

Since the court documents mentioned the victim having been in jail, ostensibly recently, we checked on that: King County Jail online records show he was there for about a month, released on December 22nd, and had three other month-long stays in KCJ earlier in the year, mostly on drug charges.

ADDED 4:36 PM: The summary from those documents – which, we’ll warn you, gets somewhat graphic:

(The suspect) got into an argument with (the victim) inside Seattle Roll Bakery … Witnesses said (suspect) and Saechao argued outside the business and continued it inside. Witnesses said they did not physically fight, but continued to argue. Witnesses said (suspect) turned his back on Saechao and suddenly turned around and pulled a handgun from his waistband and shot Saechao multiple times. Saechao fell to the ground. (Suspect) threatened the witnesses not to talk if they knew what was good for them. They said they had been afraid to admit (suspect) did the shooting, fearing retaliation. During the autopsy it was found that Saechao had been shot four times to include a shot in the top of his head and a close range shot to the face. Detectives tracked down (suspect) at his sister’s residence and stopped him and sister in a traffic stop and took him into custody. (He) was read his constitutional rights, which he acknowledged and agreed to speak to detectives. (He) denied being at the bakery and denied shooting Saechao.

As justification for a relatively high amount of bail, law enforcers noted that the suspect “has six felony convictions for robbery, burglary, and auto theft; was recently seen by family with a firearm; threatened witnesses with harm if they reported this incident.” His “last known address” is listed as the High Point neighborhood of West Seattle.

1:10 PM: Just in from the King County Sheriff’s Office:

The homicide that occurred at a Seattle bakery in the 9800 block of 16 Ave SW just after midnight was the result of a dispute that had occurred earlier in the week and was not a robbery as initially reported.

An employee of the bakery had a dispute with the victim earlier in the week. Last night the employee, the victim and several other people were at the bakery. The suspect, who is known to both the victim and the employee, went to the bakery and confronted the victim about the earlier dispute. During the argument, the suspect pulled out a handgun and shot the victim multiple times. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses initially told the police it was a robbery because they feared the suspect would come back and retaliate.

The suspect was arrested at approximately 0930 this morning in the area of SW 116 and 1 Ave SW.

King County Jail online records show a man booked less than an hour ago for investigation of homicide. We’re checking into his background. Sgt. West says the man arrested in this case is 25 years old.

ADDED 3:02 PM: According to a note shared with WCN, White Center merchants have banded together to buy flowers and make a sign of support for the Seattle Roll Bakery family, who had to get right back to work because wholesale customers are counting on their bread.

ADDED 4:13 PM: The homicide suspect booked earlier was from a different case; the suspect in this one was booked into jail about an hour ago. Online records indicate he has some criminal background, including juvenile cases; so far we’ve found auto-theft- and burglary-related charges. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he will have a bail hearing on Thursday.

ADDED 6:11 PM: The King County Medical Examiner identifies the victim as 24-year-old Jason Saechao, and says he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

12:21 AM: According to scanner information, there’s been a shooting in the 9800 block of 16th SW in White Center, one person described as having been shot in the head. The King County Sheriff’s Office is asking for Seattle Police help in the search for a man in a black mask armed with a 9 millimeter gun, last seen headed north on 16th SW (toward West Seattle). That’s all we know so far.

12:40 AM: We have a crew headed to the scene, and Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West has announced via Twitter that she is going there too.

1:49 AM: KCSO Sgt. West confirms that the victim, a man in his 20s, was killed. The shooting apparently happened during the robbery of an open-all-night business she described as a sandwich shop (listings for the address, 9828 16th SW, are for Seattle Roll Bakery, known for its banh mi sandwiches), and she says the victim was one of at least three employees in the shop at the time.

5:05 AM: TV stations are live in downtown WC for their morning newscasts. So far, no new information beyond what we had reported as of three hours ago. Sgt. West promised an update later this morning when she gets new information from detectives, who are still on the scene right now.

NOON: No new official information from KCSO; Sgt. West sent an update basically saying she’s still working with detectives to see what can be made public.