Police seeking witnesses, victims in north Seattle attacks

Police are looking to connect a series of crimes that everybody is talking about in some north Seattle neighborhoods; four separate attacks on women in four days.

The first attack happened in the Northgate area last Friday when a woman was dragged into some bushes and sexually assaulted. She gave police a detailed description and a sketch is circulating. It shows a white male, 20-30 years old, between five-seven and six feet tall, 140-160 pounds with short brown hair.

Mayor Mike McGinn referenced the cases during a briefing Thursday on police reforms.

“We have this horrifying situation now with women being attacked by strangers, that’s something different, rare, but we’ve seen four of them near each other.”

There were two similar attacks Sunday in Wallingford and Greenwood. Then, on Monday, a jogger reported that a man tried to drag her into the bushes, but she fought back and he ran off.

Police are not saying the same person is responsible but detective Mark Jamieson acknowledges similarities.

“The victims were women, by themselves and it was during hours of darkness,” he said. Three of the attacks involved a man of similar description. The fourth attack involved two men.

Women are taking precautions, particularly joggers.

“We’ve heard reports of groups of women that are running either in the morning or at night and they’ll come across a lone runner and say, ‘hey, would you like to run with us.’ That’s not a bad thing,” said Jamieson.

There have been no reports of similar attacks since the Monday assault near Green Lake. Detectives on the cases are comparing notes and Jamieson said they want to solve these crimes before another attack.

“If anyone has any information and they haven’t spoken with police, we would love to hear from them and if there are people out there who believe they were a victim and they haven’t reported it, it’s important that they come forward too,” Jamieson urged.