Just minutes before midnight Monday, Seattle police received two separate 911 reports from victims, who said they’d been robbed by a masked man in northeast Capitol Hill. While crimes took place just three blocks and two minutes apart, detectives are still sorting out the victims’ divergent descriptions of the suspect or suspects.
The first 911 report came at 11:54 PM from a woman, who told police she’d been approached by a masked man while she was walking near Miller Park, at 19th Avenue and E. Republican St. She said the suspect was wearing a bandanna over his face, but described him as a white or Hispanic male in his 20’s.
When he pulled out a black handgun and demanded the woman’s purse, she pleaded to keep her phone. The suspect agreed, and stole the woman’s purse, leaving her with her phone.
Within two minutes of receiving the woman’s report of the robbery, officers also received a call from a man, who said a black male in his mid-30s, wearing a ski mask, had taken his backpack and wallet at gunpoint on the other side of Miller Playfield, near 20th Ave and E. John Street.
While the two cases happened close by and in quick succession, detectives haven’t yet determined whether the two robberies are related because of the victims’ differing descriptions of the suspect or suspects.
If you have any information please call the SPD Robbery Unit at 206-684-5535.