Police Arrest Four Teen Suspects Connected to Nearly 80 Violent Crimes

Police have arrested one adult and three teen suspects in an ongoing criminal investigation connected to nearly 80 violent crimes that included robberies, gunfire, and carjackings throughout King County.

On September 5th, many King County police agencies began investigating a rash of violent robberies, carjackings, burglaries, and shootings. This crime spree has totaled 78 known cases throughout King County alone. This group is responsible for at least 22 Seattle cases, most of which are armed robberies.

The targets of the majority of these robberies were gas stations as well as late-night fast-food restaurants. The group would often consist of 2-3 males wearing facemasks and hooded clothing. The suspects would show up in a stolen vehicle which was either taken in a vehicle theft or a carjacking. They would enter the store, prop the door open, and point guns directly at the employees demanding they open the cash register. In many cases they would destroy computers they believed were tied to surveillance footage.

With probable cause generated by the Seattle Police Robbery Unit, we conducted surveillance with assistance from the Gun Violence Reduction Unit (GVRU) on a location where these suspects were known to frequent in Federal Way. While on this surveillance operation, detectives armed with knowledge of a recent Bellevue carjacking that had just occurred roughly 30-40 minutes prior, observed the suspects pulling into the parking lot of this apartment complex. Seattle Police SWAT operators were mobilized as were King County's Guardian One helicopter and K9 units. The suspects then exited the apartment unit and got back into the stolen Mercedes and drove away.

With Guardian One's assistance, police kept eyes on the suspects for almost an hour. During this time, they drove recklessly nearly causing multiple collisions, and also ran multiple red lights. Guardian One was essential in keeping the suspects in sight.

After driving around for nearly an hour the group returned to the Federal Way apartment complex. Police placed a Terminator (tire deflation device) underneath the suspect's vehicle tire and the SWAT team started to move into position. As this was happening, the suspects ran out of the unit, got into the vehicle, and drove away at a high rate of speed running over the Terminator. They drove approximately five miles away and pulled over on the side of Highway-18 because they noticed the tire was flat.

With the assistance of Smokey One (Guardian One returned to base re-fuel), detectives kept eyes on the vehicle as they attempted to change the blown-out tire. SWAT moved in and arrested two suspects. The other two suspects were arrested following a foot pursuit by SWAT and officers in the Community Response Group.

Two firearms were recovered from the suspects. One of them, equipped with an extended magazine, is still inside of the vehicle. This firearm in particular was seen in almost all of the surveillance footage of these robberies. It is still inside the vehicle pending a search warrant. The other firearm was located at the scene of the arrest of one of the running suspects. This gun is a reported stolen firearm, and the suspect who possessed it is a convicted felon prohibited from possessing a gun.

Three of the four male suspects police arrested are male juveniles, ages 15, 16, and 16. One is an 18-year-old. All four of these individuals are suspects in the Bellevue carjacking that occurred earlier in the day.

In total, SPD has arrested five individuals who are associated with these various robberies and other crimes.

More cases are likely to show up once the younger suspects are booked into juvenile detention at the Children & Family Justice Center and fingerprinted. On many occasions, detectives with the Latent Prints Unit responded to the scene of these armed robberies and found prints only to get no identification return. Seattle police detectives are hopeful that once these suspects get printed the latent print hits will tie them to additional crimes.

In total, this group is responsible for 78 robberies, carjackings, burglaries, shootings, and auto thefts in King County. The following law enforcement agencies also have cases on this criminal group: King County Sheriff's Office, Des Moines Police Department, Seattle Police Department, Auburn Police Department, Normandy Park Police Department, Tukwila Police Department, Bellevue Police Department, Issaquah Police Department, Redmond Police Department, Kent Police Department and Washington State Patrol.

Detectives in the Seattle Police Department's Robbery Unit were assigned to this investigation.

[Link]Map of various robbery locations (not all pictured here). [Link]Masked suspect firing a handgun during one of the robberies.[Link]Masked suspect pointing a firearm during one of the robberies.[Link]Masked suspect pressing gun into victim's face during one of the robberies.[Link]Masked suspect concealing firearm in his waistband.[Link]Handgun recovered during arrest.[Link]Handgun located inside recovered stolen vehicles following arrest.

#2024-276566 (Master case number)

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