First on My Ballard: Seattle Police say they arrested the suspect in yesterday’s gas station murder at a Ballard home just two blocks away from the crime scene. “We’re confident we got the man from the video,” police spokesman Jeff Kappel said. The SWAT team made the arrest around 3:00 p.m. in a house on NW 60th St. just east of 11th Ave. NW.
Neighbors say the SWAT team moved in quickly. “I heard police show up and yell for people to get on the ground,” said a neighbor who asked we not identify him. When we arrived, SWAT officers had their guns drawn, surrounding a white house. A few minutes later, officers moved in.
Police say they arrested the suspect, another man and a woman. This is a photo of one of the two men — it’s unclear if he’s the murder suspect — as officers load him into a police vehicle. “I’ve seen some parties the last couple weeks and a bunch of young kids,” a neighbor said. “It’s a little freaky.”
Detective Mark Jamieson says the suspect was tracked down the old-fashioned way. “Basically it was just good police work. Some good detective work led us to this location,” he told the media. “We had information that the suspect might be in this area and he was taken into custody this afternoon without incident.” The suspect is now downtown talking with homicide detectives.
This map shows the proximity of the murder (red), where the suspect dumped his clothing (yellow) and the scene of the arrest (blue). This morning family members identified the victim as 28-year-old Manish Melwani of Lynnwood.
(Photos copyright MyBallard.com.)