Seattle Police are searching for a group of teenage girls who appear to be robbing and beating women along the #73 bus line.
On Friday night, officers responded to several robbery reports in the University District area involving a group of three teenage girls.
The first incident, police say, occurred at about 11:30pm outside an apartment building at 58th and Cowen, where the group of girls approached a woman and asked for money and to be let inside of the woman's apartment building. When the woman refused, the teens chased her to the front entrance of her building and grabbed her before she was able to get inside
The report says two of the girls punched woman in the face and body, pushed her to the ground, kicked her, and grabbed her head, "repeatedly smash[ing] it into the door frame."
The group of teens then ran from the scene without taking anything.
According to another police report, about 15 minutes later the group of teens approached a 22-year-old woman in an alley near her apartment on NE 45th and 16th Ave NE.
The report says the group of teens—described by the 22-year-old woman as "well dressed"—approached the woman and asked if they could use her phone. After making a phone call, the teens asked the woman for a dollar for bus fare. After the woman handed over a few dollars, one of the teenage girls tried to grab her purse. The woman refused to let go and struggled with the teens until one of the girls threw an apple at her and fled.
After the apple attack, police believe the girls boarded a #73 Metro bus and attacked another woman on 115th and 15th Ave NE a half-hour later. A Metro driver told police he recalled seeing the teens get on his bus in Lake City at about 8pm, and later dropped them off in the same area.
The police report notes that the group of teens may also have been involved in a robbery/assault on April 2nd in the 4200 block of University Way and a purse snatching in Lake City on the 3rd.
The University of Washington has sent out a safety notice to students about the robberies.
