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Call the Valise

Two men undoubtedly have some emotional baggage after their attempted heist at a downtown luggage store early this morning went wrong in just about every way possible.

Around 3:30 this morning, police received a call from an alarm company, reporting a possible break-in at a luggage store in the 1900 block of 3rd Avenue

Officers arrived and pointed their flashlights into the business, but did not immediately see any broken glass or other apparent signs of a break-in.

Suddenly, they noticed a man skittering on his belly toward the store’s cash register.

A short time later, as officers were surrounding the building, SPD’s 911 Center received a single phone call, claiming that several people were shooting at each other about six blocks away from the scene of the burglary.

Police immediately gave up on their investigation of the burglary and sent all the officers over to check on the shooting. Just kidding! One officer went and checked out the suspicious shooting report, and found nothing, as the other officers remained in place around the perimeter of the luggage store.

Patrol officers and a K9 team then entered the business and immediately noticed a large hole in the store’s wall, above 10-feet off the ground. One officer used a ladder to climb up to the hole and noticed a fresh trail of blood inside.

Police could hear the suspect on the other side of the drywall, so two officers climbed through the hole, which led to an abandoned restaurant adjacent to the luggage store.

Officers eventually found a 29-year-old man hiding under a table in the restaurant and a 35-year-old man hiding in the ceiling. Police believe the men are responsible for the bogus 911 report of a shooting.

Officers booked both burglars into the King County Jail and seized the standard tools of the burglary trade from the two men, including a crowbar, rubber gloves, a lock pick kit, binoculars, and a hand-held Pac Man video game.