A standoff that closed a block at 19th Ave and East Howell and had a house surrounded by police ended with two people taken into custody. A police cruiser spotted a man at 19th and Madison Sunday night matching the description of the suspect in an armed robbery at Union Market only minutes before. When the suspect fled and was lost among nearby houses, police surrounded the location and waited to move in.
The armed robbery at 2101 East Union happened around 7:40 Sunday night. The suspect was reported to be a black male, 5’10”, wearing blue jeans, a baseball cap and a red hoodie. He reportedly used a black, semi-automatic handgun in the hold-up.
8:38 PM Original report: It’s a busy night for the East Precinct as officers have surrounded a house on E Howell at 19th. 19th is shut by police.
A man surrenders himself as another is detained by police
19th and Howell
why does it seem like Seattle is crawling with crime (to an outsider moving to your area very soon)?
is it that Seattle blogs tend to cover/report these incidents and give a false impression that its happening everywhere all the time
Last week there was an armed robbery on 20th near Pine ..this is right in the middle between the armed robbery at the Union Market and where the suspect was caught. In the past there have been muggings in the immediate vicinity of where the suspect was caught.
I’ve lived on 20th near Union for over 10 years and this is the most crime I can remember in a long time.
having lived in Houston and DC, i don’t think i could ever say Seattle is “crawling” with crime. but it is a city so things happen. the biggest difference here is in Houston and DC they start the local news with a round up of the day’s homicides. i do however think robberies and muggings are up somewhat during this recession.
Thanks SPD for taking another one off the street. I hope his momma doesn’t think her precious baby is being railroaded by facing the consequences of his actions.
CHS is a local neighborhood blog and so it tends to focus on specific issues of concern to the local community. Overall, it’s a safe area but when news can be reported almost in real time, it can leave a different impression. I do agree that robberies have increased due to the economic issues, and I’ve also noticed these things tend to occur in spurts–nothing for awhile, and then a rash of incidents all at once, then nothing again.
This doesn’t surprise me, as there are always drug deals going on right there on the open, on a regular basis. Cops have been called there at least 1x a month this year so far. Cars will drive up and around the block and will sometimes stop on the middle of the street in front of that house on E. Howell to pick up drugs, so that other drivers cannot pass go get to 19th and have to wait until the drug deals are done.
I think it is great that blogs like CHS are covering such reports. While such reports aren’t meant to give a false impression of any sorts, it’s very helpful for people who live near such areas. Seattle is a city, and crimes occur all the time, as do suicides and murders (just not all of these incidents are in the news).
There are parts of Capitol Hill with million dollar mansions, condos/apartments to beautiful houses to crack houses – some areas have no signs of open drug dealing while other areas don’t really deal with it at all.
For people like myself who live in an area close to which these criminal incidents occur, it’s helpful for me to know such things so that when I am walking home from school, late at night, I can choose a safer route.
Also, this area of 19th and Howell has also been a problem spot for years with open dealings – last year in one incident, one car chased another, and crashed into an electric utility pole support wire while hitting 2 cars and leaving the scene. Just the other night, a person leaving that home was out screaming his head off into a cell phone in the middle of the night. This is just one area and one house, amongst many, and these incidents don’t occur everywhere all the time but it is very helpful for neighbors who live near that home on 19th/E. Howell.
I live right across the street from where all of the stake out and 20 polices cars were last evening on 19th and Howel. I felt as though I was in a war zone. And the response was so over dramatized. As I saw more then two police officers bring out rifles and cock them. And it seemed as though the police had no consideration, concern or care for the lives and homes of the people who live in the neighborhood.
The police have been notified numerous times through out this last year about the sketchy activity in that house and a near by apartment building owned by a near by church. But there seems to be some kind of underlying not communicated known reason why the police do not respond. So, if it seems as though Seattle has more crime than what should be it has a great deal to do with police procedure……….
That they chose to not deal or respond to issues and then over dramatize and escalate other situations. Who was our previous police chief, how did he not displine his officers, and whos cabnet is he on as drug czar? So, inform, get invoved and be about the solution to change this crazy situation.
Sounds like you should go to work for the police department with your expertise on response and how it should be handled? If not, be grateful that they apprehended someone, and hopefully got some evil off the street.
We in the area know this infamous block of Howell as “crack alley”. There is so much drug activity we all avoid the street even during the day. Now with the “Jimmy crack corner” house on 19th and Howell closed up and sold, the one that had the rear end of a car jutting out of its sawed open ply wood garage door, I guess others are taking over “the trade”. This area is so infamous in the neighborhood I wonder why the police cannot patrol and shut down the “Crack Exchange” on that street.
I guess that if they could not do anything about Deano’s old bar on Madison, with all the well known drug and prostitution activity until the owner decided to close it, I guess they can’t do a thing on Howell and 19th either. Thanks for the great protection guys on this instance, but we need our community cleaned up and protected every day, not just when a store gets robbed somewhere else.