White Center Now: The blog about White Center

We got a few questions about the Guardian One helicopter’s presence over east White Center/Top Hat this afternoon. That video shows what it was all about – assisting as King County Sheriff’s Deputies on the ground chased after an auto-theft suspect. The accompanying summary:

The suspect initially evaded police and then was relocated at a house. The suspect got into the passenger seat of a vehicle and then ran from police again when confronted. Guardian 1 tracked the suspect with the FLIR camera and he was taken into custody in a backyard shed.

We got some questions Monday afternoon about a Guardian One search over White Center. KCSO answered those questions with this update today:

On 11/4/2019, at about 2:50 PM, Deputy Hancock located an occupied stolen vehicle near the 9800 block of 13 Avenue SW in White Center. The driver of the vehicle got out and fled through an apartment complex.

Guardian 1 took to the air, and Deputy Gervacio grabbed his K9 partner “Paco” to assist in the hunt for the suspect. Guardian One noticed a suspicious hot spot, and K9 Paco found the suspect hiding at the bottom of a rock wall.

The 43 year old male, from White Center, was arrested without incident. The suspect denied he had driven the stolen car, but deputies were able to locate video of the suspect behind the wheel, wearing a beige jacket – which was found hidden inside the car.

KCSO adds that the suspect “was booked into King County jail on several outstanding warrants. The vehicle theft investigation remains open.”

(Also posted to partner site West Seattle Blog)

Took a while to get the details on this but for everyone who asked why the Guardian One helicopter was looping over White Center and South Delridge for a while – it was part of the search for someone who robbed an employee of Proletariat Pizza (9622 16th SW) in the alley behind the business, says King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Ryan Abbott. He says a robber armed with a handgun took the employee’s wallet and cell phone “and fled northbound into Seattle on a bike.”

… we went out looking but Guardian One had moved on and we were unable to locate deputies on the ground. G-1 has since tweeted that it was assisting in the search for a hit-run suspect near 2nd SW and SW 102nd.

First it was Guardian One, as tweeted below, and then TV following up:

Thanks for the text (206-293-6302 any time). Guardian One confirms via Twitter that it’s the helicopter you’re seeing/hearing over White Center. Flight tracking shows it’s been focused in the southwest White Center/northwest Burien area. G1’s tweet says King County Sheriff’s Deputies are looking for a robbery suspect. We’re monitoring the search via law-enforcement radio but have not yet heard details of the incident. We’ll update if we find out anything more; let us know if/where you’re seeing deputies on the ground. (added) Radio discussion indicates the ground search has been centering on 14th/116th.

12:44 AM: If you’re seeing/hearing a helicopter over White Center – what we’re hearing in radio communications is that the Guardian One helicopter is helping deputies search for a stolen car.

UPDATE: Here’s what the Guardian One crew tweeted after the incident:

(Photo by Gill Loring, added 4:41 pm)

FIRST REPORT, 3:39 PM: Thanks for the tips. Guardian One has been out over North Shorewood in what a deputy tells us is a search for at least one suspect – another may already be in custody – related to a stolen car.

4:41 PM UPDATE: Guardian One’s crew reported via Twitter that one person was in custody, two others being sought. And we’ve added a photo courtesy of Gill Loring – the stolen car, which had gone into a yard at 20th SW/SW 102nd.

11:59 PM: Thanks for all the tips about the Guardian 1 helicopter search over Top Hat. It was helping search for suspects in a shooting and robbery at the Star 21 marijuana store in the 11000 block of 1st Avenue South, we confirmed with a deputy in the area. No arrest(s) reported so far. We will be following up with the King County Sheriff’s Office in the morning.

ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: From Sgt. Cindi West of KCSO:

A K-9 search was done on the ground in addition to the helicopter search, but no one was found.

12:23 PM: Even more details in the newest update from KCSO:

The incident happened just before 10:00pm at the Star 21 marijuana shop in the 11000 block of 1 Ave S. A store employee saw lights and heard loud banging near the front door so he opened the door to see what it was. He saw a vehicle rapidly backing into the barriers placed in front of the store. A group of men, wearing masks, got out of the car and ran towards him at the front door. The employee tried to close the door but the men forced their way inside the store. One of the suspects shot the 25 year old employee in the shoulder as they entered the store. The suspects were described as black males wearing masks and hoodies.

Once inside the store the suspects rummaged through the store taking items before fleeing northbound in the vehicle. A short time later a deputy found the vehicle unoccupied near S110th St and Occidental Ave S. The vehicle had been reported stolen in a carjacking in SeaTac on Monday. The employee was taken to Harborview with serious injuries.

The carjacking occurred on Monday night around 11:00. The victim was sitting in his car in a parking lot in the 3500 block of S180th St. when he was approached by three males. One of the males produced a handgun, pointed it at the victim and demanded his car keys. The suspects then fled in the vehicle. The suspects in this case were described as two Hispanic males and one black male, all believed to be in their teens. (C17045198)

If you have information about these crimes please call the King County Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311. You can remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 by calling Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

Thanks for the tips – the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One was over White Center for a little while tonight, almost exactly 24 hours after last night’s visit. And again, they’ve explained it with information on Twitter:

One tipster reported seeing KCSO cars in the “dollar store” parking lot on the east side of downtown WC. For tips, by the way, you can text or call us any time at the same hotline we’ve long had for our partner site West Seattle Blog – 206-293-6302.

Thanks for the text about a helicopter over White Center. Since media helicopters are almost always off on weekends, we figured it had to be Guardian One, and headed over. But they’ve already explained themselves, via Twitter:

(WCN photo – deputies conferring behind the McDonald’s in the search zone)

8:27 PM: Thanks to everybody asking about this – scanner traffic confirms a search is under way near Ambaum/114th for a suspect, and that’s brought out the Guardian One helicopter, with a King County Sheriff’s Office K-9 on the way too. We haven’t heard what the suspect is being sought for, but deputies do seem to know who they are looking for, and it’s someone reported to have a record. Right now the search scene includes the storage business across from the Ambaum McDonald’s; one reader tells us they’ve also seen deputies a bit further south. We’re heading out to see what more we can find out, and we’ll update if/when we hear anything more.

ADDED: The Guardian One crew tweeted some information shortly after we had checked their feed and saw nothing. They tweeted, “In White Center, looking for white male, 6-2, black running shorts and shaved head. Wanted for assault and warrant. Ran from McDonald’s.”

8:52 PM UPDATE: We are in the area now and just talked briefly to deputies. They say the assault allegation involves domestic violence. Guardian One is still circling.

9:32 PM UPDATE: We left the area a little while ago, same time that the helicopter departed – which wasn’t because of an arrest, but because they had to refuel. Meantime, a KCSO K-9 team had arrived for a search in the area. So far, we haven’t heard of anyone being taken into custody, but are continuing to monitor, and if we don’t hear anything definitive sooner, we’ll check with KCSO’s media-relations officer in the morning to see if they have anything new to report. Our understanding is that the victim did not require hospitalization.

1:07 AM: Thanks to everybody who called/texted (206-293-6302) about the helicopter activity. Not enough discussion audible via scanner to figure out what they were doing while they were still in the are, but as usually is the case, the crew tweeted just after the incident ended (we did hear “They got the guy” on the local KCSO frequency): “Assisted White Center patrol on person with a gun call in 18 Ave SW. Led patrol in to person in front yard of house. Subject is detained.” We’ll follow up with KCSO later this morning.

ADDED 5:13 PM: Finally have those added details. From KCSO spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West: “Around midnight, we responded to the area of the 10400 block of 18 Ave SW for a report of a suicidal man who possibly had a gun. We contacted the man in the area and did not locate a gun. The man was transported to a hospital for a mental-health evaluation. The man is a 66 year old living in the vicinity.”

The King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support division has published that video showing part of what it was doing late last night – we got texts asking why the helicopter was circling in the White Center area; what you see is the arrest of a suspect found in a stolen car along Myers Way, by the city/county border. After the car was pulled over by Seattle Police, the suspect fled, but was picked up by Guardian One’s FLIR tracking. We don’t know where the car was stolen from – still trying to match this to a specific case.

The King County Sheriff’s Office has just explained what the Guardian One helicopter has been doing over Top Hat. From Twitter: Deputies were sent to a report of “a possible stolen car with person inside, S 100 ST and 2nd Ave S, Deputies arrived and the suspect fled … Deputies have set a perimeter, Helicopter on scene to assist, K9 tracking, stay inside to help the K9 track. … The car is a 1993, red, Acura Integra, 3 door, and is a confirmed stolen car. … Keep an eye out for a white male in his 20’s, in a t-shirt and jeans; this is the suspect who was in the stolen car and ran off.” We’ll update with any new information.

12:04 AM: We don’t have complete details but we do have a bit of info about why Guardian One was over White Center in the past half-hour. The King County Sheriff’s Office crew tweeted that they were helping White Center patrol deputies with someone “on a roof” on SW 106th, but the person came down on their own. What they were doing on the roof – that, we probably won’t be able to find out until morning. (If you are in the area and know, text us at 206-293-6302!)

1:28 AM: No audio, but Guardian One’s crew has published this video of the incident:

Exactly one additional word of information is available – it’s captioned “drunk man” on roof in White Center.

Thanks to Gill for the initial tip that the Guardian One helicopter was out looking for someone/something – moments after we started trying to find out what was going on, we heard on a Seattle city police radio frequency that it was moving over to the West Seattle side of the line, to help look for a possible prowler, reported by someone who also said she heard shots.

According to subsequent discussion, the shots actually had happened on the county side of the line, related to an incident involving a car. There is no word of anyone actually having BEEN shot. Meantime, Guardian One didn’t find any evidence of a prowler, so it moved on.

And now, as we write this, a texter tells us shell casings were found at 28th/104th by sheriff’s deputies who responded quickly after the shots were heard. They, the texter says, were in the area continuing to try to get the word out about the Roxbury rapist from earlier this month. Still no indication of any shooting victim, or damage.

10:35 PM: Thanks to Gill for the original tip on a helicopter search in the White Center/Highland Park vicinity. We kept getting texts from people on the Seattle side of the line and couldn’t find the helicopter for quite some time, until finally spotting Guardian One over the west side of Greenbridge around 9:30 pm. Found a sheriff’s deputy on the ground who told us they were looking for someone believed to be a suspect in an armed robbery at a produce stand earlier. We don’t know which produce stand – drove around looking through the business district to see if we might find any KCSO units on the ground to ask – will have to follow up on that tomorrow. Apologies for the lag in reporting here – we were able to publish to WSB via the smartphone but not here (usually isn’t a problem). We did tweet to the WCN Twitter account, which you can always check in times of breaking news – twitter.com/whitecenternow.

10:44 PM UPDATE: The Guardian One team just tweeted that the suspect they were seeking was not found. Description: “… male … about 5’9″, wearing a red hoody, blue jeans, wearing a black beanie.”

ADDED 9:36 AM WEDNESDAY: Here’s what KCSO spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West tells us: “(Last night) at about 8:40 pm at the Best Roasted Corn Stand on the corner of SW 98th and 15 Av Sw: A male suspect walked up to the stand, displayed a handgun and demanded money. The suspect also demanded the employees cell phone. The suspect fled on foot. The suspect spoke to the victim in Spanish. He was described as a Hispanic male, skinny, about 5’8″ tall, mid 40’s and was wearing a red sweatshirt, blue jeans and a black beanie. The victim has seen him in the area before.”

One more reminde – as first noted here last week, White Center Heights Elementary is due for a special visit by the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One around 1:25 this afternoon, as part of a special project kindergarteners have been working on. The North Highline Fire Department will be there too. WC Heights is at 6th SW and SW 100th.

We don’t usually get early warning when the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One heads this way, but this time we do! Next Thursday afternoon (March 13), you just might notice it over Greenbridge/south White Center. White Center Heights Elementary PTA president David Sonsteng sent early warning of the plan for a visit at the school. Kindergarteners are “working on their community-helpers module in class,” he explains, so Thursday, 1:25 pm-2:25 pm, they will “get to meet some of these community helpers.” In addition to Guardian One, they’re scheduled to meet KCSO Deputy BJ Myers (who’s based out of the downtown WC storefront office), a fire engine from the North Highline Fire District, and an ambulance from AMR. We’ll remind you again that day, but if you might be anywhere near the area, store away the info. (The school is at 10015 6th SW.)