EDITOR’S NOTE: The following chronicle of stolen Chevys, attempted robbery, police pursuits and more in the Burien/SeaTac/Des Moines area was one of the more complex (and at times confusing) crime stories we’ve ever covered, and required extensive teamwork – including diagramming it all out poorly on a white board:
By Theresa Schaefer with Scott Schaefer
This chronicle of crime, stolen cars and attempted robbery all started around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 26, when Burien Police/King County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a robbery at the Kush and Glass Shop in the 17700 block of Ambaum Blvd South.
This story is a little confusing, and that’s why we’ve decided to break it down chronologically:
10 a.m.:
A black Chevy with license plate AWR0629 is reported to be involved in an attempted robbery at the Kush and Glass Shop in south Burien. Suspects are 2 young black males who entered store, with one drawing a gun and demanding that the register be opened. They are unsuccessful in their robbery attempt, and flee the store without $ (or glass pipe/bong or chronic). The exact model of the car is not clear, but we later found that it was a previously-owned Chevy Trax that had just been traded in. For the purpose of this story we will call this car “Traxxy.”
11:30 a.m.:
Burien Chevorlet calls Burien Police to report that an unlicensed, brand new black Chevy Spark has been stolen from their lot. We will call this second car “Sparky.”
12:30 p.m.:
Des Moines Police report that a black Chevy license plate #AWR0629 was involved in a hit and run in the 21400 block of Pacific Highway South.
HEY – that’s Traxxy!
2:30 p.m.:
Burien Chevrolet informs Burien PD that Sparky, the stolen Chevy Spark (with no license) is equipped with ONSTAR, which currently shows the vehicle’s location to be at Global Connections High School. Officers speed to that location and find a black Chevy matching the general description of Sparky, the ONSTAR vehicle. Based on their visual ID they follow the car, and we can only presume that they believed they were pursuing the reportedly stolen ONSTAR vehicle (aka Sparky). The officer reports the license as AWR0629 – which as we all know is NOT Sparky – but in actuality is Traxxy, which had been involved in the attempted robbery at Kush and Glass earlier in the day. A pursuit ensued that ended in the parking lot of the Sandpiper Apartments in the 3100 block of S. 208th in SeaTac. The suspects fled but police were able to catch 3 of them – 2 females, ages 17 and 14, and a 17-year old male who police believe is one of the suspects in the Kush robbery.
“Traxxy” has now been recovered!
MAP OF THE CRIME TRAIL: In the intervening time between 2:30 and 4 p.m.: ONSTAR continues to show that the stolen black 4 door Chevy (Sparky) is still near Global Connections. Say what? Initially police may have thought they had already recovered this vehicle, but a deputy investigates and finds another black Chevy in the parking lot, parked and unoccupied.“Sparky” has been retrieved!
4 p.m.: Burien PD receives a call from Burien Chevrolet reporting another stolen vehicle. The car dealership had received a call from Des Moines Police stating that a black Chevy which had been involved in a hit and run, is believed to belong to them. Burien Chevrolet did not know they had another car missing until they received that call. The license plate of this vehicle was – you guessed it – AWR0629…YEP! that’s “Traxxyâ€!
So there you have it…a tale of two stolen black Chevys – “Sparky” and “Traxxy” – mostly ends well, although “Traxxy’ might have been a bit worse for wear after her adventure as a getaway car and hit-and-run joy ride. It is unknown what “Sparky†got up to, but we might venture a guess that his teenage kidnapper ditched him at the high school, perhaps on their way to commit another crime, or maybe they were just late for home-room… Here’s a map that shows the extent of this crazy Chevy crime chronicle:POSTSCRIPT: To make this day of stolen Chevys, attempted capers and more even more confusing, later Wednesday night, our source says, two men tried to steal another car from Burien Chevrolet. Luckily, they were unsuccessful…]]>
And it’s not even Summer vacation yet!
My head hurts.
Ahh the teenage criminal mind look there’s weed in that store and we can’t shop there for a few years. Lets steal a car then rob the store. The police will never catch us. Come on weed shops don’t have hd camera’s ohh wait. Mangers watching off site wait that never would happen. End of day handcuffs on three one still on the loose. Will get caught sooner or later.
I believe there is a separate charge for bringing a firearm in a pot shop to. So now these morons will have to wait even longer. To legally purchase pot.
Hilarious! Great reporting too. Love your prose style and journalism!