On Monday morning at 3:30AM on Capitol Hill, a First Watch Officer was patrolling his district. He saw a person standing near a wall and also noticed that there was writing on the wall. A citizen waved at him, and he contacted the citizen. The citizen told the Officer that the person standing next to the wall was actually tagging the wall.
The Officer called for more units and as he attempted to contact the suspect, he could see that she was beginning to run away. The Officer ordered the suspect to stand still and she complied. However, she immediately stated that she would not answer any questions and wished to remain silent. The Officer could see that the suspect had fresh paint on her hands that matched the paint on the wall. Another Officer brought the witness to the scene and the witness positively identified the suspect as the person who vandalized the wall of the parking garage.
The suspect was arrested and a paint can was found in her pocket. The graffiti on the wall stated, “Destruction Keeps You Young.” Officers familiar with the surrounding area told the arresting Officer that the exact same graffiti with the same hand writing was written on another building a few blocks away. The suspect was booked into the King County Jail.
Notably, the suspect is one of the convicted suspects who broke the windows at the Midtown Center last July.
“Take Aways” from this are:
1. A community member got involved (thank you)
2. Officers were familiar with the area and recognized that the suspect had caused other property damage in the community.