On December 13th, at approximately 4:00 AM, Seattle Police officers made a traffic stop on a blue van in the 2200 Block of 8th Avenue. The van was stopped because it was driving the wrong way on a one-way street and driving without it’s headlights. The van was driven by an adult white male and had an adult black male and adult black female as passengers. As the officers were speaking with the driver about the infraction, SPD radio broadcast a call of an assault that had occurred in the 2200 Block of 7th Avenue in which the suspects, described as two black males, a white male and a white female had left the scene in a blue van. Noticing the similarities in the description of the vehicle and occupants, the people in the van were detained by some of the officers while the other officers went to contact the assault victim.
The officer met with the victim who stated the following: He and his girlfriend were seated in his car in the parking lot just south of a cafe, having a cigarette. A blue van pulled up next to their car. Two suspects got out of the van and stood next to their car for a few minutes. Both victims stated they felt uneasy about the situation. Suddenly and without warning, one of the suspects opened the driver’s side door and punched the victim at least three times in the face while shouting, “Give me your money!” At the same time, another suspect got out of the van and ran around to the passenger side of the victim’s car and opened the door. The suspect forcefully removed the girlfriend’s necklace, ring and bracelet from her and threw them on her lap. The victim was able to grab her jewlery and put it in her purse. The male victim handed over his wallet to his attacker and received a few more punches to the face. The suspect’s also took the female’s purse. It appeared to the victim’s that there may have been a suspect acting as a lookout while the robbery was occurring. The suspects then jumped back into the van and took off.
The victims then went inside the cafe and employees called 911. Fortunately, officers had already stopped the suspect vehicle. The victims were able to positively identify their attackers and the three suspects were arrested. The victim’s purse was recovered from inside the van. The Seattle Fire Department was called to the scene to treat the victims for their injuries. The male victim had heavy bleeding and swelling to the left side of his face and mouth, and was later transported to the hospital for further treatment.
The three suspects were transported to the Robbery Unit where they were interviewed by Robbery detectives. The suspects, ages 28, 31, and 38, were later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.