Police arrested a woman for falsely reporting her child had been abducted in a carjacking on First Hill, and later arrested several of her associates hours later in a connected attempted carjacking in the Chinatown-International District.
Officers were initially dispatched to the 300 block of 9th Avenue at 12:18 AM Thursday after receiving a report from a 19-year-old woman, who said someone had stolen her car while her 3-month-old daughter was still in the vehicle.
Officers quickly arrived on scene and were unable to find the woman but spoke with an uninvolved witness who stated that the 19-year-old caller had been driving through the intersection in a rented blue 2020 Toyota Corolla and nearly struck two people in the crosswalk. The 19-year-old driver stopped the vehicle, exited the car, and proceeded to start a fight with the two pedestrians. The witness went on to say that an unknown person got into the driver’s seat and drove away leaving the 19-year-old woman behind.
Police learned a 22-year-old woman, who had been in the area in her own car – a silver Chevy Malibu – drove the 19-year-old woman, her friend, to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of her injuries. Officers quickly made their way to the hospital and found the woman, who told them that an unknown man had gotten into her car and driven off with her 3-month-old daughter in the backseat. Officers immediately began the process of notifying the Washington State Patrol and agencies across the state of an impending Amber Alert and to be on the lookout for a stolen Corolla.
Dozens of officers converged on an area in West Seattle when they received information that the stolen rental vehicle may be in the neighborhood. Additional officers also drove to the city of Kent to see if the child was at a location there. Police were unable to find the child at either location.
Back at the hospital, doctors treated the woman for minor scrapes which, she claimed, she’d received while attempting to cling to her car as it sped away with her child inside.
After the woman received treatment, officers continued interviewing her to try and gather additional information to aid in their search for her vehicle and child. During the conversations, the woman’s concerns shifted from her child’s well-being to items she believed were in her vehicle.
Police then received a call from the child’s father, who stated the child was safe at a grandmother’s home in the North Delridge neighborhood and had been there for the last two days. Officers responded to the home and confirmed the child was there, safe, and well cared for.
When confronted with the information that her child had been found at the grandmother’s house, the woman admitted she had lied about her child being abducted. When asked why she would lie about a kidnapping, the woman said she thought it was the only way officers would search for the items she had left in her vehicle. Police asked the woman if she knew who stole the car, and she said no.
While the woman claimed not to know who had taken the vehicle, police believe a passenger in the woman’s Toyota took the vehicle after she stepped out of the driver’s seat to confront the two pedestrians in the crosswalk in the 300 block of 9th Ave.
Officers booked the 19-year-old woman into King County Jail for the felony crime of false reporting in relation to an Amber Alert. Police have not yet located the stolen Toyota.
Hours later, police also arrested the 22-year-old female friend, along with a 20-year-old man and a 22-year-old man, following an attempted carjacking in the Chinatown-International District.
In that incident, police responded to 6th Avenue South and South Jackson Street at 3:38 AM for reports of gunfire.
Officers arrived and met with the victim, who said he had just parked his blue 2021 Toyota Corolla in a parking lot near 8th Avenue South and South Jackson Street when two men and a woman in a silver Chevy Malibu pulled up on the street. The woman approached him, demanded his car keys, and then fired multiple shots.
The suspects fled in their Malibu. No one was struck by the gunfire.
About an hour later, officers located the suspects in the Malibu at 6th Avenue South and Yesler Way. Police arrested the two men and the 22-year-old friend of the suspect in the false abduction call. Officers found two handguns in the woman’s jacket pockets – one of which had been reported stolen.
The would-be carjackers admitted they believed the Toyota was their associate’s blue rented Toyota that was stolen earlier in the falsely reported kidnapping.
Police booked all three occupants of the Malibu for attempted first-degree robbery and drive-by shooting. Additionally, they booked the 22-year-old woman for first-degree assault and possession of a stolen firearm.
