A South Seattle dog walker helped police collar a pair of teen burglars after they broke into two homes, tried to shoot open a safe, and then crashed their stolen car Wednesday.
The teens were first spotted around noon by a resident in the 2100 block of 30th Avenue South after she heard a crash in her living room and saw three teenage boys running away from her home. The teens had smashed a window, but were unable to get inside, and fled in a red Honda sedan.
About an hour later, a dog walker called police after he saw three teens dashing out of a home in the 4500 block of South Alaska Street. The dog walker, who knows the home’s owners, confronted the teens before they fled once more in their red Honda.
The dog walker, hackles raised, got into his own vehicle, called 911 and followed the suspects until they crashed into an embankment near 44th Avenue South and South Angeline Street.
The three suspects fled from the car, and officers caught up to two of them a short time later. Police saw one of the suspects stash a jacket under a car before he was arrested and, after retrieving the jacket, found a handgun inside one the pockets.
When officers went to check the home the suspects had burglarized in the 4500 block of South Alaska, they discovered the teens had fired several shots at a wall safe inside the home. They were unsuccessful in opening the safe.
Officers booked the two 15-year-old burglars into the King County Youth Service Center—one for burglary and one for burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm—and are currently searching for the third suspect.