WATCH: Man rampages through Seattle Target for 15 minutes
Sep 18, 2018, 8:05 AM | Updated: 6:29 pm
Police say a career criminal ripped off a downtown Seattle Target store three times in four days, even after being arrested and released for his crimes.
Surveillance video from August allegedly shows 41-year-old Jason Lewis confronting sales workers on the electronics floor of the department store. At one point, he head bumps an employee. The terrorized employees left him alone after that. Lewis then destroyed display cases and grabbed as many electronics as he could over 15 minutes.
“He then begins to push over and drags store displays and he uses one as a weapon, swinging it like a sled hammer trying to break a secure container loaded with iPads and Apple watches,” KIRO 7’s Gary Horcher reported. “When that didn’t work, he kicked it repeatedly. Then he got down on the floor and tried to kick it open with both feet. Keep in mind, three minutes have passed since this violent tirade began. Lewis rips down the big video monitor on top of the Apple display, and then he is barely able to budge the very heavy 4-foot by 3-foot locked case.”
“Desperate to break it open, Lewis flips it onto the floor and slides the case, shoving it down the aisles of the store,” he said. “Lewis slides and shoves the display onto, then right down an escalator while people were riding on it. One customer hustles to get out of the way, while another pauses to look back as the display case comes crashing down to the floor below with Jason Lewis in hot pursuit.”
Eventually, Lewis loads all the electronics into a duffel bag, which police say he stole from the Columbia store down the street, along with the clothes he was wearing.
Seattle police were called but never responded to the burglary over the 15 minutes it occurred. It is unknown why. Lewis was arrested later that night for car prowling. A judge released him from jail 19 hours later. That’s when Lewis went back to the same Target store and repeated the thefts two more times over three days. Police eventually tackled him outside the store after his final attempt.
KIRO 7 contributed to this report.
