Police arrested a man armed with a knife in Roosevelt Tuesday afternoon after he stole a woman’s purse. The arrest comes after a string of similar robberies in nearby North Seattle neighborhoods, and detectives are investigating whether the cases may be connected.
At about 1:30 pm today, police received a report that a man in a windbreaker had cut the purse off the woman’s arm and run through the yards of several homes near NE 71st and Roosevelt Way NE. Officers caught up to the man and arrested him.
Detectives were already working five similar robberies reported earlier this month.
The first robbery was reported on February 2nd, by a 91-year-old woman, who said a man armed with a knife had stolen her purse as she was walking up the steps to her home near NE 75th and 39th NE.
Almost two weeks later, on February 14th, a robber armed with a knife cut open a 77-year-old man’s back pocket and stole his wallet near NE 60th and 35th NE. After stealing the man’s wallet, the robber shoved the man to the ground and fled.
On February 20th, a robber cut the strap off a woman’s purse near NE 72nd and Roosevelt Way NE—just a block from the scene of today’s robbery.
A half hour after that incident, a robber armed with a box cutter sliced the strap on a woman’s purse near NE 65th and 35th NE, cutting the woman’s hand in the process.
Finally, on February 25th, a man grabbed a woman’s purse right off her shoulder as she was walking near NE 75th and 35th NE, as she was on her way home from the grocery store.
All the robberies, including today’s incident, took place between 1:30 pm and 3 pm.
Robbery detectives are now transporting the man arrested today back to police headquarters, where they will interview him. Again, detectives haven’t yet determined whether these cases are connected, but we’ll post any additional details about these robberies as we get them.