Police are investigating a possible connection between a series of assaults and attempted robberies overnight in the University District.
Shortly after 5 PM, police received a report of four men assaulting a 23-year-old man in the 4500 block of 15th Avenue Northeast.
The suspects reportedly kicked and punched the victim, leaving him unconscious as they fled the scene.
A short time later, around 5:45 PM two women were walking in the 4500 block of 18th Avenue when three men and a woman in a Mercedes sedan pulled up near them in an alleyway and exited the car.
The female suspect grabbed one of the women and punched her in the face. One of the men then used a taser on the victim.
Another uninvolved group of people approached the alley, surprising the suspects, who climbed back in their car and fled the area.
Around 8:15, police received reports of at least two unsuccessful carjackings in the area, and later that night, around 11:45 PM, two men pulled guns on employees in a robbery at a restaurant in the 4200 block of University Way Northeast. The suspects forced the employees into a back room and ordered them to empty their pockets before fleeing the area with the victims’ phones and wallets.
Police are investigating a possible connection between all of these incidents, and are asking anyone with information to contact the Robbery Unit at 206-684-5535.
Update 1/26: Police are investigating another carjacking, potentially connected to previous cases in the University District.
On Tuesday, around 5:45 PM, a food delivery driver reported two men pulled him from his vehicle in the 4700 block of University Way NE.
One of the suspects used a stun gun on the man while the other brandished a knife.
One suspect stole the victim’s silver Toyota Corolla while the other left the scene on foot.
Detectives continue to investigate these cases and urge anyone with information to call 206-684-5535.
Update 1/27:
Officers and detectives working an emphasis patrol on Wednesday arrested two suspects in a recent carjacking in the University District and are investigating them for a connection to several other incidents.
Around 9:45 p.m., two people flagged down officers near 42nd Avenue and University Way about a group of people drinking and threatening pedestrians in an alley.
Officers found and contacted four people, two of whom were passing around a set of Toyota car keys.
After speaking with the group, officers learned two members of the group—a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, who is also a reported missing person in Bellingham—were involved in a recent carjacking of a Toyota in the neighborhood. The 17-year-old also surrendered a taser, a weapon used in several recent incidents, to officers.
Officers booked the juvenile girl into the King County Youth Service Center and booked the 20-year-old man into the King County Jail. Police continue to investigate the two other men identified at the scene on Wednesday.