Seattle police arrest knife-wielding robber possibly linked to other North Seattle thefts
Feb 26, 2013, 3:39 PM | Updated: Feb 27, 2013, 7:14 am
A robber armed with a knife is under arrest after he stole a woman’s purse in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood, and police are now investigating whether he’s responsible for a string of similar robberies in several nearby North Seattle neighborhoods.
Map: North Seattle robberies (via Ravenna Blog)
Seattle police were called about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to a report the suspect had cut the purse off a woman’s arm and run through the yards of several homes near NE 71st and Roosevelt Way NE. Officers caught and arrested him shortly after.
Detectives were already investigating five similar robberies over the last month.
On Monday, a man ripped a woman’s purse off her shoulder as she walked home from the grocery store at NE 75th and 35th NE.
The robbery string started on February 2nd, when a man armed with a knife stole a 91-year-old woman’s purse as she was walking up the steps to her home near NE 75th and 39th NE.
On February 14th, a 77-year-old man reported a robber armed with a knife cut open his back pocket and stole his wallet near NE 60th and 35th NE. Police say the robber shoved the man to the ground and fled.
A similar robbery happened six days later, when a a robber cut the strap off a woman’s purse near NE 72nd and Roosevelt Way NE – just a block from the scene of Tuesday’s robbery.
Then thirty minutes later, a woman reported a robber sliced her purse with a box cutter NE 65th and 35th NE. The blade cut her hand during the robbery.
Police were questioning the suspect Tuesday afternoon.
