On Halloween morning, Deputy Amber Thompson, with the Shoreline Police Department, caught a cat burglar red-handed.
The suspect was going around to apartment complexes in Shoreline, knocking on windows and doors to see if the apartments were occupied, she said. At about 9:30 a.m. on Oct 31 he headed to an apartment complex at 199th and 15th Ave NE.
“He was knocking on the windows and front door of this one apartment and the woman inside was asleep,” she said. “He went to the back slider and as she woke up and walked out the front door to see what it was, he threw a rock through the slider.” When the burglar figured out someone was in the apartment, he took off.
But the woman got a good view of the vehicle and license plate, Thompson said.
“Then we got a call of a second burglary where a rock was thrown through a window and when he figured out someone was inside, he drove off.” That burglary attempt happened in the 1300 block of 175th.
Police had a vehicle license plate and vehicle description, and as Thompson was driving around, she happened to go by an apartment complex in the 15100 block of Stone Lane N. when she saw the car.
“It was backed in, with the keys in the ignition, ready to go,” she said. And that’s when she caught the cat burglar.
“He came out with a bag of treats —a pillow case full of large, heavy items,” Thompson said. “I thought he was going to run, but he put his hands up and complied.” The pillow case had a VCR and a glass jar of change in it, and police found a TV by the door. He was arrested for residential burglary.
“It’s not often you catch a guy in the act,” Thompson said.
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