SWAT serves warrant on NW 63rd St.

Updated: According to King5 News, the “ongoing pattern robbery case” that police referred to, is the case of ten pharmacy robberies. Two people were taken into custody but released pending further investigation, police say.
Here is the King5 piece:

Tuesday: Officers investigating an “ongoing pattern robbery case” called in a SWAT team to detain two people in a residence in the 3000 block of NW 63rd late this afternoon. Like many neighbors, we observed officers with guns drawn in the area, as well as several news helicopters hovering over the scene. “A search warrant was served on a residence and two adult subjects, one male and one female, were detained,” police said.

A neighbor snapped this photo of the SWAT team. The police activity shut down NW 63rd between 30th and 32nd Ave. for a couple hours. “Robbery detectives subsequently interviewed and released both subjects pending further investigation,” police said. “This remains an active and on-going Robbery Unit investigation.” (Thanks Pong for the photo!)

Last weekend: SWAT team arrests man inside Ballard 7-Eleven

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

128 thoughts to “SWAT serves warrant on NW 63rd St.”

  1. This is down the street from my house and I'm getting reports from our neighbors. Two individuals have been taken from a house close to where the police car is in the photo. They are still waiting for a warrant to be issued. One of the officers said that they're investigating a potential link to several crimes that have occurred. Lots of police, cars, guns/rifles, etc.

  2. sounds like a pretty serious crime to merit that sort of response.

    I'm glad they hauled off some people anyway. Not the sort of element I want in my neighborhood.

  3. Sounds more serious than the cops are letting on if the SWAT team is walking around in full body armour with machine guns and rifles.

  4. Neighbors are reporting what looks like a SWAT truck has arrived (“like a tank almost, all black”), officers are suiting up (vests and helmets) and it looks like they're getting ready to go in.

  5. There is also a helicopter that is doing circles above. I'm at 66th and I have seen it make at least 5 circles around in the past 20 minutes or so.

  6. Officers are being instructed about going in, how they're going to conduct themselves, etc. [Apropos of nothing, one neighbor informs me that certain SWAT officers are very cute – they're staging in front of our houses so we're getting this straight from the 'hood]

  7. To be honest, once you pay for a SWAT team you have to use it to justify what you paid. So SWAT gets used all the time when it really isn't needed. The police like to claim that they use overwhelming force to avoid conflict, but it's hard to buy that. When you want to avoid creating conflict, you don't send in the army ready to fire.

  8. The SWAT truck is advancing toward the house (toward the car in the photo above) with the officers walking behind the truck peeking out behind it down the street toward the house near the end of the block. They've arrived at the house. I'll have to find closer neighbors who can see better …

  9. Remember October's full SWAT team assault on the apt building on 15th Ave NW?
    https://www.myballard.com/2009/10/11/swat-activi
    Our neighborhood was really freaked out by the “flash bangs,” not really knowing what was going on…then we find out that the suspect wasn't even in his apt when they moved in. :-( At least they have someone in custody this time around…

  10. thanks for being 'honest'.
    Next time go for the truth.
    The safety of the officers is paramount, they know who they are dealing with.
    Do you?

  11. Now they are going into the back yard where there is a garage and two big dogs. They have dog catching equipment- like a noose on a long pole to catch the dogs. One of the dogs is really aggressive and has lunged at people in the past.

  12. Thanks for the updates ballardmama! I live 1 block over and want to take the dog for a walk but feel like I should wait. Your play by play will be helpful in knowing when to venture out.

    and msballard- your “apropos of nothing” tidbit is making it a lot harder to stay in my house! :)

  13. Why wait? I just walked around the block to take a quick look. The other surrounding blocks are business as usual and quiet… except for the helicopters.

  14. One dog Lily is very timid and would lunge if afraid. The other dog is a new addition to the household that was just recently rescued and sounded sweet but terrified of men – this certainly won't help things re its socialization (I ran into the owner of the house Saturday at the bank who told me about it).

  15. Granted, I am curious about what is going on, but we should think about whether those seemingly innocuous posts are hindering the police efforts. If the people the SWAT team are trying to catch are reading this, then they already know where the police are and how they are advancing.

  16. My neighbor who lives mid-block tried to leave his house to walk my Fatty Monster and was immediately forced back into his house. As long as you're not in the immediate area you should be fine to walk the dog. Plus you can report in!

  17. I don't know, Susan.

    I think the four helicopters hovering over their house and the tank on the front lawn may have already alerted them that something was up.

  18. The only way to avoid conflict is to let criminals go about their business undisturbed. If you’re cool with that then you are right, swat shouldn’t be used. I however don’t think criminals should be left to torment our neighborhoods at will.

    How often do we hear about a solo officer knocking on a door and getting shot, all too often. How often do you hear about a swat officer being shot during a call, not very often because overwhelming force combined with proper training is the safest and most effective way to take care of these types of situations. 1:1 are odds a hardened criminal might find appealing as opposed to going back to jail. 20:1, they are either going to come quietly or get dropped real quick. If the primary officer feels the situation warrants swat backup then he or she should have all the boot on the ground they want.

  19. They are taking a lot of pictures of the white van and its contents. Lots of detectives are on the scene.

    The dogs are barking a lot, but behaving peacefully.

  20. Sunset photo of helicopters hovering over west Ballard SWAT action up on Flickr's Ballard Pool. Taken from 75th & 19th.

  21. I can confim they are taking pictures. But they are actually located at the wrong location – they got lost on their way to the Monkey Puzzle Tree.

  22. There was nobody in the house. They had already arrested the two residents. The SWAT team was just securing the scene until they came back with a warrant to enter the residence.

    They didn't know whether anyone else was there or not, but they had to assume there could be.

    When the SWAT team entered they yelled ” Seattle police, if there is anyone inside yell out now”

    They yelled this a few times before they entered. Nobody responded, so they entered the house. It was scary because they are entering a crime scene and they didn't know if there was someone in there.

    I filmed this whole thing out of my closet window which looks out over their front porch.

  23. I hope it was the aggressive nieghborhood druggies! I thought they lived or bought on 64th, but lately I've seen the girl on 63rd.

    Or maybe this was their dealer, and now their customers won't have any reason to come back. Hope hope hope.

  24. Ballardmomma and ChefWahoo, I think I just realized which neighbors you are! We're the ones up the street with the three dogs and have hosted many of the 'hood BBQs.

  25. Thanks to My Ballard, the first place neighbors turn to find out what is happening and can find answers almost instantly, thanks to good reporting and the input of folks in the know in the community.

  26. My friend's husband is a former SWAT member (different state) and he said that whenever drug distribution is involved they assume that weapons are involved as well. Given the basis for the warrant, SWAT presence seemed appropriate.

  27. “If the people the SWAT team are trying to catch are reading this”

    Well, unless the felons Briar Rose or Doug11, we should be fine.

  28. Released? Nice. Glad we burned a couple grand on that.

    Really, I'm only being snarky if they were going after drugs. I support ending all drug prohibition and black markets in general. Black markets, not drugs, are the real “drug” problem. You can score quality dope in your 14 year old's ritalin vile, or your laid-up buddies' pain medicine vile. Some of which is better (stronger) than the street drug equivalent…and safer too! If this was some violent neer-do-well with a legit warrant, I'm good with it.

    Humans like to intoxicate themselves. Always will. Regulate it, legalize it, treat addiction problems with actual help…not jail, and watch the gang violence associated with dope decline. Simple. Makes me want to tear my hair out when I think of the “soft on crime assh*les”. They just don't want to lose their drug enforcement / legislation jobs. They create the very issues that provide their job security. Maddening.

  29. Have you had any problems with your neighbors before or is this a surprise having the SWAT team show up? I'm assuming you've had or witnessed problems with them before this …?

  30. GREAT. I guess that means that they'll come back. But hopefully, the neighborhood will be watching them now. Perhaps they'll move away.

    Be careful, B Momma. If this is the pair that we've seen, they are not nice.

  31. The King County Sheriff's department operates the Guardian One helicopter and co-operates with other law enforcement organizations, including SPD, as needed.

  32. Maybe I'm being overcautious; but they were very aggressive towards someone I know. He was surprised because he thought they were smoking pot, and they snarled at him for just walking by. Usually pot smokers get more mellow, not more aggressive.

    But after hearing further details, it sounds like they may have been smoking something quite different from pot.

  33. I see what you did there. By saying that only felons have a problem with a paramilitary unit taking over a neighborhood, you are implying that *I* am a felon. How clever!

    Couldn't possibly be that I just don't see a good reason to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, send in troops, and shut down my neighborhood to arrest a couple of robbers.

  34. So let's spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and close off a few city blocks every time we want to arrest a couple robbers. This sounds like a great idea. It's not like we're in a recession with a budget deficit or anything.

    I'm an advocate of officer safety, but this ridiculous. A paramilitary team, dozens of cars and officers, multiple helicopters… What did the Police think they were going to find? That the “pattern robbers” had a tank? An army?

    And why is it that police officers get to waste the public coffers to play Army while we can't get a single officer patrol on Market St?

  35. OMG! I think BlueBen was right!!!

    hundreds of man-hours wasted and they let the crooks go!

    tying up our streets for hours with no results!

    (it's really quite sad, this war on drugs)

  36. Yeah, I was SO assuming that you were an advocate of officer safety. It seemed pretty obvious…
    What's more obvious is your ignorance of the importance of public safety. You can't possibly expect them to be careless and waltz into a situation that would put themselves and our neighbors at great risk, right? I would certainly hope so…
    I don't care if your bleeding heart can't take the heat.
    Hide under the covers, it'll all be over soon.

  37. I am not a felon either, wow people sure assume a lot.
    Just to let the neighborhood know, that I am not a felon, drug user,
    or anything else but a mosaic artist geek from green lake.
    this was a mistake in identity, and excessive force, I do not own a gun,
    and do not like gun's

    I like to surf and walk our dog's .
    I would hate to be a woman who look”s like witch.
    I could due without being burned at the stake.

  38. it might as well have been.

    Look, I know the cops' hands are tied with this ridiculous protocol, but when they spend all those resources then don't make an arrest, I would call that 'wasted'

    do you have another, more appropriate word then?

  39. They were serving a “search warrant” so they were looking for something. And maybe they expected an armed response. I wonder if they found what they were looking for. They did this last year to the house three houses down street from us, but not with the swat tank. About 10 police with guns showed up very suddenly. The whole thing finished in 15 minutes with four young men hauled away. Police returned to house taking away evidence. Then the four guys came back. A week later the house was empty and the landlord spent two months cleaning, fixing to rent it out. We tried to find out what happened from SPD North Precinct, and they never told anything we did not already see or know.

  40. they did make an arrest. 2 of them. it sounds like it's just not of the suspect SPD wanted. and whose to say that all the resources were “wasted?” it's an ongoing investigation. in this world of immediate gratification/satisfaction, there still is good ole gumshoe work that delivers. i'd rather have my tax dollars spent this way than on the monkey tree fiasco.

  41. Yes, I do. Investigative. Warrant was for the property, not the suspects. The condition of the property, whether or not it was occupied, whether or not it was booby trapped, etc. All things that they have to account for.
    You'd be first in line with the 'cowboy cop' crap if someone had died as a result of any carelessness.
    You can't have it both ways.
    They didn't waste our resources, they used them in a manner that any reasonable person would expect them to.
    Feel free to go back to your hollywood version of events though, this is kinda boring, and takes too long to develope…

  42. Are you always this vicious, sarcastic, and mean, or just on the Internet where there are few consequences and your word has little meaning? You seriously can't consider that this police action might have been just a *little* overkill? Certainly you aren't suggesting that we blow tens of thousands of dollars and shut down parts of a neighborhood every time the police have to encounter someone potentially dangerous? Isn't that the definition of their job?

    We sent in a tank, swat troops, a helicopter, dozens of cars, and even more officers, to raid an empty house and arrest two people who were later released. This is the *second time* the police have done this in the past 6 months. I'm not a bleeding heart, I'm a pissed off taxpayer. Apparently you are the bleeding heart, crying that the police can't possibly do anything without calling in an entire military unit to back them up.

    Tell you what. Next time the police want to play Army, why don't you volunteer to bankroll it. It's in the name of safety, right?

  43. They are still out there, then. I'm sorry if there was a “mistake-in-identity”, but with any luck, the scrody people who ARE drug users will move elsewhere.

    They have turned me into a NIMBY. I don't care if they do their drugs, I just want them to move away from Sunset Hill.

  44. People talk big on the internet. Some of our neighbors are panicky, and like to accuse people with measured responses who disagree with them of being horrible people. The truth is that a lot of them can't handle real discourse without immediately falling into an angry accusatory mindset. Some of our neighbors seem particularly venomous, but the truth is that it's mostly hot air from average (and sub-average) people.

  45. ““Robbery detectives subsequently interviewed and released both subjects “

    doesn't sound like an arrest to me Kim.

    and fyi, that monkey tree fiasco RAISED money for the city.

  46. 10 officers with their weapons sounds like a pretty reasonable response. A good balance between a show of force and reasonable resource utilization.

  47. you're full of something all right.

    for crying out loud, the guy they hauled out of there looks just like the robber shown in the pharmacy surveillance video, yet they need to find the exact clothes he was wearing or the little bottles of oxy he actually took?

    sounds like some 'investigative' work could've been done beforehand–with probably one or two officers.

  48. I don't care to parse my thoughts, ever.
    Basically, it is just another form of mediocrity.
    There's enough of that without my adding to the dung pile. Stand for something, why don't ya? Scared??

    There are too many things that my tax dollars already support that make me sick.
    Public safety is never one of them.

    I never claimed to have an inside track on what was occuring, simply pointed out that you didn't either, but felt compelled to poo-poo what was being done anyway.

    If you are really are pissed off taxpayer, see you in Olympia on 2/15/2010.
    http://www.mynw.com/?nid=76&sid=278765

  49. Parse your thoughts? Are you sure that the word parse means what you think it means? I'm not sure that any intelligent person would claim that analyzing their own words is “mediocre”.

    It's quite obvious I stand for something. I stand for the police not wasting our money raiding empty houses and terrorizing our neighbors with military operations. Sending a tank and troops into our neighborhood has nothing to do with public safety. It's convenient for you to claim that. Only a jerk would be against public safety. But I'm not against public safety, and this little military operation in Ballard had nothing to do with public safety.

  50. Check out the channel 7 News for an interview with Kirsten and Matt in their home. They are saying it was a case of mistaken identity. News trucks are still on the street tonight!~

  51. hey its julesage and we have been addressing it in the forum msballard30. it was also on king 5 tonight and they were interviewing the Tucker man.

    turning out to be quite a story…

  52. This story is starting to sound like a case of over paranoid neighbors to me. Sheesh. With neighbors like this I would suggest not growing a beard in this part of town. They might report you to Homeland Security as being Osama bin Laden.

  53. what makes you think the neighbor's blew them in?

    from my understanding, the police had been tracking this suspected criminal. I think maybe you're confusing this with that monkey puzzle tree house.

  54. The Times says it like this, “At about 2:07 p.m., detectives received a tip in an ongoing robbery investigation that led them to the residence. They arrived with the SWAT unit to help serve a search warrant. “

    So they received a tip (the Times and PI doesn't specify from a neighbor, granted) and within minutes they jumped on them? I hope this isn't true. We should all be very concerned if it is.

    So where would the tip come from? It obviously wasn't a very good tip. Sounds like eye witness due to the lack of evidence found and no arrest. So if it was eye witness, who knows where this guy lives?

    Granted, it's speculation on my part, but this whole incident sounds like it rested on speculation and very little evidence. And now there's a couple with a trashed house and tarnished reputations in their neighborhood. Pretty lousy situation if you ask me.

  55. “it sounds like it's just not of the suspect SPD wanted. and whose to say that all the resources were “wasted?” it's an ongoing investigation.”

    Resources were wasted. Wrong people, so sorry about that, just blew tens of thousands in tax money…but this is an “ongoing investigation!”

    I'll let you in on a little something, when they release the people who they thought did the crime but come to find out they didn't do it, it's the PD's spokesperson's job to say, “it's an ongoing investigation” to make us all feel like nothing was wasted, when in fact it was a waste.

    The friggin' troops were brought in, the neighborhood was turned into Beirut, and it was all based on a tip they received minutes before they stormed in?

  56. “I don't care to parse my thoughts, ever. “

    wow. just wow.
    I think I'm just going to paste that quote after all of your comments instead of actually taking the time to dissect them.

  57. Crap!! we missed it. Our dog walker sent us a text and so did our new tenant. We were up north working. We will need to get details.

  58. There have been other visits from the police to that address. Last summer there was a drug overdose death, and before that, another arrest and release situation.

    But armed robbery?!! I sure hope not!

    I sure hope that it is a case of mistaken identity. That would be a relief to everyone.

  59. Mistakes happen.
    This mistake certainly wasn't the personel involved, which is what all these ninnies were bitching about.
    And I won't parse that either.

  60. I'm glad they've had a chance to be heard in the media and to get their message out. Hopefully, everything will quiet down now for them and the neighborhood and everyone else. This must have been a very traumatic experience for them.

  61. 1) If you think that's a tank you haven't the slightest clue in the world what you're talking about.

    2) They didn't know they were raiding an empty house. Kind of hard to know what's going on until you actually go inside. What's your solution? Since you seem to think you're smarter than the cops why don't you educate us all on what should be the proper procedure. Clearly you're an expert.

    3) How exactly is it a waste of money? Should we simply fire those cops? It's not like you can pay them only when they're needed and call them up on a whim. The idea that SWAT teams just sit around all day doing nothing until they actually need to serve a warrant or perform some other SWAT-ish task just goes to show how ignorant you are. Also if you think doing away with the SWAT team is a solution what do you propose to do when they really are needed?

  62. One more thing, Seattle PD don't own a helicopter. Just a thought, but maybe you could try checking a few facts before spouting off in ignorance? Just saying…

  63. sound's to me like you have never seen my face,
    and for crying out loud, I was not hauled out of any “there”,
    I was hauled onto the ground at gun point.

    It seems to me that you” actually” should go back to watching soap operas, Due to the fact that HE, actually did not take anything but, being slammed onto the ground.

  64. Wow I am surprised that you all think this was a joke and the SWAT team has cute members. This was a terrible, humiliating thing that happened to us and we feel totally violated. I think I know who ballardmomma is since she knows my house so well. I am sure you have been watching the news like a hawk and discovered that this was a terrible mistake in identity and no guns or drugs of any kind were found in my house. I don't even have booze in my house. The supposed “suspect” is now not considered a suspect anymore and the SWAT team and whoever was involved is going to pay for this. So for all the neighbors that think I am a thief, drug user or whatever they think can recheck themselves and honestly I don't care what you all think because none of you know anything about me and should mind your own business. I live a simple life, I am a nice person and just want to be left alone.

  65. 1. Sorry. Armored personnel carrier. I get confused when I see oversized military-grade vehicles filled with men wielding assault rifles rumbling down my street.

    2. Perhaps the house wouldn't have been empty if they hadn't raided THE WRONG HOUSE.

    3. Yes. All the diesel to drive the SWAT truck is free. The gasoline that all of those idling Ford V8s use is free too. And pulling those officers away from regular duties to perform SWAT duties? That's free. (Certainly no hazard pay involved). The Sheriff's department gets free fuel for their helicopter (thank goodness, since those things cost thousands of dollars in fuel per flight!)

    I have come to the conclusion that many of my neighbors have hopeless comprehension problems. Nobody proposed that we “do away with SWAT”. Nobody proposed that we just let criminals run free. Nobody suggested that we just send an officer to a door with a warrant and some flowers. My mother taught me that it wasn't nice to make up lies and put words in other people's mouths. That's a lesson some of you might take to heart.

  66. Boring. Please read the rest of the thread as this logical fallacy has already been responded to. If you don't get it after that, read the thread again until you do.

  67. I think that would have reasonable, The prior record of the arrested, is a traffic violation from 1998. And with further investigation of people who new the person arrested said he does not resemble the picture at all.

    I agree with the fact that things have gotten out of control, and police officers have been killed in the line of duty out of hate. Witch makes situations like this harder to deal with. I respect any man or woman who put's their life on the line to serve and protect the public.

    I don't understand in some cases, how a city looses in court after pulling someone over for e radical driving, then when got out, started throwing punches at the police, and in court the police stated they thought he was high on pcp, when tested for the drug it turned up negative.

    This situation just seemed to be a little extensive. I am glad that there were no riots of Scandinavians destroying Ballard over this arrest.

  68. Christmas is over, sometimes people like to have a string of lights, just for the affect, not to celebrate Christmas.
    I would not consider a career in design bro.

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