4 arrested, 2 charged in connection with nearly 80 violent crimes throughout King County
Oct 15, 2024, 6:05 PM | Updated: Oct 16, 2024, 7:21 am
Two people have been charged after four people were arrested in connection with nearly 80 violent crimes throughout King County.
According to a news release from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) on Tuesday, an 18-year-old was charged with robbery in the first-degree, theft of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first-degree. His next court date, where an initial plea is entered, is scheduled for Oct. 28 at 8:30 a.m. He remains in custody on $350,000 bail.
The KCPAO also stated a 16-year-old was charged with two counts of robbery in the first-degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second-degree. His next court date is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The teen remains in secure detention.
Prosecutors stated a 15-year-old was arrested on a warrant for a previous case that he is on supervision for. In August, the teen was sentenced for taking a motor vehicle without permission in the second-degree and robbery in the second-degree. He was granted a suspended disposition alternative by the court, as authorized by law. When he did not follow his court-ordered terms, King County prosecutors made a motion for a bench warrant on Aug. 22. The teen was then arrested on that warrant.
Prosecutors asked for the court to hold the 15-year-old in custody and they did. His next hearing in that case is Oct. 23 at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center.
Another 16-year-old was arrested as part of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) investigation. Prosecutors stated a case for that 16-year-old has not yet been referred to KCPAO.
Earlier this month, officers arrested the four in connection with nearly 80 violent crimes.
SPD announced the arrests via a news release last week, stating the crimes include violent robberies, shootings, burglaries and carjackings.
SPD said police began investigating the crime spree on Sept. 5, which totaled 78 known cases throughout King County alone.
“We had been investigating them since early September,” SPD Sgt. Brian Whicer said. “Finding their whereabouts was a difficult task. Through investigative means, yesterday, we were finally able to get a place where we knew they may be. So, yesterday was the first day we had concrete information on where they might be.”
The arrested group is allegedly responsible for at least 22 Seattle cases, most of which were armed robberies.
“For too long we have been living a world of either you treat them like children, or you treat them like violent criminals,” SPD Chief Sue Rahr said. “They are both. There are differences … cognitive differences in juveniles, that doesn’t diminish how dangerous their guns are. We still have to deal with the fallout when kids with poor decision-making skills are highly armed and they’re literally out of control.”
The target of those robberies were gas stations as well as late-night fast-food restaurants, according to police. The group would often consist of two to three men wearing facemasks and hooded clothing. The men would allegedly show up in a stolen car, which was either taken via car theft or carjacking.
They would then enter the store, prop open the door and allegedly point guns directly at employees, demanding they open the cash register. In many cases, police said the group would destroy computers they believed were tied to surveillance footage.
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According to SPD, police conducted surveillance, with help from the Gun Violence Reduction Act, on a spot the group was known to frequent in Federal Way. While on surveillance, following a Bellevue carjacking, detectives saw the group allegedly pull into the parking lot of an apartment complex. Seattle Police SWAT operators, King County’s Guardian One helicopter and K9 units stood by. The group then left the apartment and allegedly got back into a stolen Mercedes and dove away.
Police kept an eye on the group for nearly an hour, at which time the group allegedly drove recklessly and almost caused multiple crashes, along with allegedly running red lights. The group then came back to the Federal Way apartment complex, to which police placed a tire deflation device underneath the tire of the Mercedes and SWAT moved into position. As this was happening, SPD said the group ran out of the unit, got into the Mercedes and sped away, running over the device.
The group drove around five miles before pulling over on the side of Highway 18 because they noticed their tire was flat. As they attempted to change the tire, SWAT moved in and arrested two people in the group. The two others were arrested after a foot chase by SWAT and officers in the Community Response Group.
Officers seized two firearms. One of them, equipped with an extended magazine, is still inside the car, according to SPD.
“This firearm in particular was seen in almost all of the surveillance footage of these robberies,” the news release stated. “It is still inside the vehicle pending a search warrant.”
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The other firearm was found at the scene of the arrest of one of the running suspects. SPD said the gun is reported stolen and the suspect it was taken from is a convicted felon, prohibited from possessing a gun.
“More cases are likely to show up once the younger suspects are booked into juvenile detention at the Children and Family Justice Center and fingerprinted,” the news release stated. “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.”
Casey McNerthany with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said the group will face consequences.
“I want to be clear on behalf of the King County Prosecutor’s Office, there needs to be clear accountability here, as we would have in any juvenile case,” McNerthany said. “Armed robbery cases are very serious. It’s important to the community that we have clear accountability, and we will.”
Detectives in SPD’s Robbery Unit were assigned to the investigation.
Editors note: This story was originally published on October 11, 2024. It has been updated and republished since then.
Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.