The man arrested early New Year’s Day after allegedly breaking into a construction site at 15th and Pine and shattering windows on machinery at the site is a Capitol Hill art student, CHS has learned.
We’re not naming the artist who has yet to be charged but we now have more details on the 23-year-old who police say climbed over the chain-link fence and smashed out the cab windows on backhoes at the construction site for the Cameo apartments around 5a on January 1st.
There have been no statements yet from Seattle groups claiming responsibility for Sunday morning’s actions.
“I, and I trust others as well, wish to witness this world’s end,” the arrested man wrote in a recent Facebook update the week before his arrest. “And with that end, something new and exponentially more human to manifest. We can construct the most beautiful creature with the bones of a monster if only we can bring the beast to its death. There will be no need for tombstones, only for gardens.”
We don’t know if the man is associated with the artists who say they were illegally removed from a Central District house by police in a pre-Christmas raid. Meanwhile, 23rd and Alder’s Turritopsis Nutricula anarchist squat has been ordered cleared by January 7th.
At one point intended to be a second condo project to accompany its twin Braeburn building across the street, the 15th at Pine Cameo project fell into limbo during the recent economic slowdown only to be revived as apartments earlier this year. Plans call for a six-story, 56-unit building with two live-work units and 2,100 square feet of retail at ground level and parking for 61 vehicles located within the structure.
In October, CHS reported that the Cameo was one of three multi-story developments planned within four blocks of E Pine. We have no information indicating the development will benefit from the affordable housing tax credits targeted by protesters in the 10th/Union takeover in early December.
The 23-year-old has no significant arrests on his publicly available record. According to photos posted of the event, he was a participant in the recent Money Shouldn’t Talk protest in downtown Seattle prior to Christmas.
Police say vehicles in the January 1st incident suffered about $1,000 in damage.
Prosecutors will be weighing charges of burglary and malicious mischief against the 23-year-old this week. In the meantime, he was conditionally released from King County Jail on Sunday night.
…in order to create?
Oy!
With his desire for some kind of apocalypse, it sounds like this guy could be mentally ill, in which case I could cut him some slack. But, more likely, he is just another angry anarchist loser, in which case I hope he is prosecuted and ends up spending some time in jail.
I truly do not understand the thinking of actions like this. Does he actually think he is going to stop a development project (on a parking lot) by breaking a few windows?
If I were majoring in art, with a minor in unemployment, I’d probably feel a sense of unfocused rage and frustration too, looking ahead to what my upcoming prospects were likely to be.
Don’t be pansies CHS. Post the guy’s name. He should suffer the embarrassment. Why be cowardly and not give his name?
He hasn’t been charged yet. As soon as he is, I’m sure you’ll see his name.
So the solution to that is simple, don’t major in art, major in a trade or skill that will get you employed. Easy.
Since he’s so focused on destruction, he should go to a trade school and get a license as a heavy equipment operator. He could then have fun with demolition, and get paid!
Instead, he’s a ticked-off “artist” with no marketable skills…… a frustrated, unemployed, destructive parasite who spends time in jail and abandoned houses. Can we say “poor life choices”?
Based on this guy’s comments he’s either mentally ill or REALLY dramatic. I feel like I hear a lot of this type of talk from the anarchist types in the area though, so I’m leaning toward the latter.
Breaking windows? Didn’t this guy read The Monkeywrench Gang?
I’m more surprised by the comments from people who don’t know the story, don’t know the person and make assumptions like these. It’s a good thing we have legal safeguards to protect people from being deprived of their liberties, from the snowball effect of public opinion.
Also, most of my friends that graduated from my prestigious graduate “trade” school, still can’t find jobs. Should they maybe have went into equipment operating rather than law? You people are ignorant, mindless, sheep. I’m disgusted.
It’s not a mystery that the world is a shit show. This man is not yours to condemn, and he is a human being. I am disgusted at the general attitude of the people who read this story. The widespread media is notorious for misrepresenting facts and stories of many events that are similar to this. I am disappointed to see the sensationalist report of this event to be so easy for the public to swallow without question. You should all dismount your high horse and further question what is fed to you.
With 1 out of 5 people on a global scale drinking clean water, while they work their fingers to the bone to feed our economy that is based off a slave trade — how are you not angry?
Our life styles are built around a system that demands a death toll on a global scale.
I commend this man, despite everything, for being bold enough to oppose what he despises.
That does not mean I would do such a thing myself, but if any of you feel like making a few changes, I dare you to.
Where precisely does it say he is unemployed? Assumption one. Where does it say that he spends time in abandoned houses? Assumption two. This second assumption being that of the author, who states: “We don’t know if the man is associated with the artists who say they were illegally removed from a Central District house by police…”
We don’t know…. but by saying that statement the author has implied to all who read this that this individual was associated with them. Frankly, it is most likely that he was not.
But all of you who assume anything about a suspect of a crime for which charges have not yet been filed play into the media’s sensationalism and need for headlines.
I can’t say it was a good choice to damage property in this way, but assuming that he even did this, he is still entitled to be treated as a person, not filth.
“Commend” him? Seriously? Do you also commend other criminals such as muggers, because they of course are “protesting” against capitalism? I don’t think a responsible person can pick and choose which crimes he/she commends, and which ones he/she condemns.
Word for word, this is what I first thought when I read this. Do your research, proto-luddite.
LOL
I though the exact same thing.
Kid’s an amateur. No wonder he is angry and unemployed.
I bet the excavator still had the keys in it.