Beginning in February, several street robberies have occurred in Ballard. A Robbery detective was assigned the cases and developed information on a person of interest. On February 25th, at approximately 10:40 PM, a man was confronted by the suspect who was armed with a handgun. The suspect demanded the victim’s wallet, money and cellphone. Just after the robbery, surveillance video at two ATM’s captured the suspect using the victim’s debit card in an attempt to get money. The suspect images from the ATM matched the description of the robbery suspect. Detectives were able to positively identify the suspect in the photos as their same person of interest.
On March 8th, shortly after 4:00 PM, Robbery detectives observed the suspect and a companion in the Loyal Heights neighborhood. The suspect was wearing some of the same clothing items he had on in the ATM photos. Detectives took both men into custody and transported them to the Robbery office. Detectives interviewed both men. The companion was interviewed and released, while the 20 year old suspect was booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Robbery. It is believed that this suspect may be responsible for four other armed robberies in the Ballard area.