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Friday, March 26, 2010

Student Robbed in Columbia City, Possible Pattern Emerging

Posted by on Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 9:17 AM

On March 16, two "medium" and "dark" complexioned men allegedly chased down and robbed a foreign exchange student in Columbia City, according to a police report. During the robbery, the men said they had a gun. The report notes a similar robbery taking place in the vicinity of 39 Avenue S and Rainier Avenue S, involving a man who matches Suspect 1’s description, who also claimed to have a gun, signifying that there is a possible pattern emerging.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on March 16, a foreign exchange student at Seattle Central Community College was walking eastbound on the 3900 block of South Edmunds Street when he crossed paths with the Suspect 1, who was walking westbound. After passing the student, S1 turned and began chasing him. The victim ran.

The report states that S1 caught the victim and held him captive by the front of his shirt. Suspect 2 ran over from across the street and told the victim not to draw attention to himself. “S2 put his right hand into his waistband area while doing this and said ‘I have a gun.’”

The victim never saw the gun.

S2 searched the victim’s front pockets, taking his wallet and cell phone. S2 searched the wallet, found no money, and returned it to the victim. He kept the cell phone, according to the report.

The suspects then allegedly harassed the victim for not having any money. The victim removed his Ipod from his coat and gave it to them, to prevent being assaulted. The suspects then fled on foot towards Rainier Avenue. The victim walked home “in a state of shock.”

The victim’s host family called the stolen cell phone and spoke with the man who answered. The police report fails to mention what the two parties might have talked about.

Suspect 1 is described in the report as a dark-complexioned man (6’0”, 235 lbs) in his early twenties wearing a black baseball cap, black zip-up winter coat, and jeans.

Suspect 2 is described as a medium-complexioned man (5’8”, 185 lbs) in his early twenties wearing a black baseball cap, black cotton zip-up coat, and a black shirt.

 

Comments (8) RSS

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1
Could the pattern be assaults and robberies by men with medium and dark complexions, or are we not allowed to mention that?
Posted by ser on March 26, 2010 at 9:27 AM
2
those are helpful descriptions. I can't remember the last time i saw a roughly six foot tall young man in black of any complexion.
Posted by olive on March 26, 2010 at 10:05 AM
Will in Seattle 3
We must remember that the very name, Columbia City, brings to mind images of an expedition up the Amazon in search of rare fruits and forgotten coffee plantations.

Wear a Panama hat when you go exploring ... and scope out Bottlewerks.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on March 26, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Freche_Lola 4
I've been having a lot of conversations lately on my campus about the stupidity of robbing college students.

1. Most students don't have much money on them, credit cards are trackable and can be cancelled.

2. An ipod is worth nothing if you have to crack it, which is highly likely, they often won't allow syncing with unauthorized computers.

3. A laptop belonging to a student is likely to be covered with identifying stickers as well as having a password (so pain in the ass to scrub off the stickers and then crack the hard drive, which takes off value).

4. Some phone companies don't even use sim cards (US Cellular) so it's no longer as easy as removing the sim card.

Basically all a robber can hope for is a couple of bucks and the satisfaction of knowing they ruined someone's day.
Posted by Freche_Lola on March 26, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Will in Seattle 5
@4 - actually, they tend to have recent model iPhones, crackberries, and other items like netbooks that are easily resold.

You can always reimage the drives, altho the new static ones have to be flashed.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on March 26, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Rotten666 6
And yet our local citizens are more concerned with building a pocket park at Rainier and Hudson.

This is why I'm pro-gentrification. It will be nice when this type of shit is no longer a daily occurrence.
Posted by Rotten666 on March 26, 2010 at 10:43 AM
wilbur@work 7
Freche - here's why you're wrong.

1. Students in this town are frickin loaded, even @ SSCC.

2. didn't have to do that with the ipod I bought at the pawn shop.

3. ??

4. SIM cards are near-universal now.

There's always higher petty theft rates around colleges. Why? Because students are easy marks.
Posted by wilbur@work on March 26, 2010 at 12:23 PM
McGee 8
Oh Loveschild! Looks like your kids are up to no good.
Posted by McGee on March 26, 2010 at 5:51 PM

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