A young man exposed himself to – and masturbated in front of – a female business owner in Burien on Tuesday, and police are warning residents and businesspeople to be on the lookout. The suspect is described as being an African-American male, between 17–22 years old, with a slim build, standing around 5’7” and weighing around 150 pounds. Police say that he has medium complexion with under-the-skin acne, and that he was seen wearing slim wire-rim, oval, black-framed glasses and a tight-fitting black beanie cap. Both his ears are pierced, and it’s possible that he has very short hair or a shaved head also. “He didn’t look look homeless,” the business owner told us, “he smelled musky but not dirty, and was wearing dark-washed baggy jeans and a black zip up jacket.” The owner said that this was the second time he’s been in her shop, located on SW 152nd Street. “He showed up after some customers had just left,” she said. “When he came in, I was somewhat suspicious – I thought he might have a weapon.” She was alone in the store when the man started looking around and acting suspicious. “I asked him ‘what are you doing here?’ and ‘why aren’t you in school?’ and he said that he lived in Tukwila and was taking the week off from school. I thought that was a bit odd.” He appeared to have been on foot, and he may go to school in Kent and take the bus. The owner – who wishes to remain anonymous – added:

“I was literally getting skeezed out by this guy. I then got a phone call and spoke out loud that someone would be coming into my shop any minute. The guy was watching me, and I was trying to decide if I should call 911. Next thing I know, he’s exposing himself and masturbating! I yelled for him to get out, opened the door, and he ran past me down the street.”
The owner called Burien Police, who responded within 5-10 minutes. Deputies checked nearby stores, the library and transit center, but the suspect wasn’t located. A couple hours later, a friend of the owner’s went to a nearby restaurant to see if they had a surveillance video of the suspect. The Manager there said she saw the same man in the alley behind their place. The Manager then came to the victim’s shop and told her that the kid was nearby. “I went outside and there he was, just down the block” she said. “He was now wearing a white baseball cap, and he saw us and took off again.” Another female business owner said that this guy has been in her shop three times. She’s warned him about calling the cops, and he apparently was at her shop that morning. “The guy is a skeezebag, and guys who do this turn into rapists,” the business owner victim said. “I am frightened!” she added. She also said that she’s thinking of arming herself. “Female business owners need to be aware of this person, as he is bold and I think he’s dangerous.” “The most important advice for anyone who is witness to an exposer is to take steps to make yourself safe,” Sgt. DB Gates of the King County Sheriff’s Office told The B-Town Blog. “It’s impossible to tell a person how they should respond, as each of us will respond differently to the situation and the goal is to stay safe. “If it means leaving the area, or yelling at the suspect, or calling for help from bystanders, it’s whatever works for the individual at the time of the incident. “We of course want them to call 911 as soon as possible.” In the state of Washington under R.C.W. 9A.88.010, what this man did would be considered a gross misdemeanor, or a class C felony if he had previously been convicted of a sex offense:
“A person is guilty of indecent exposure if he or she intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his or her person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.”
Indecent exposure is a class C felony if the person has previously been convicted of a sex offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030.]]>

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.

10 replies on “ALERT: Man exposes himself – and worse – in female-owned Burien business”

  1. The Sooner you can go to get yourself self Defense the better–It does take a while –All the Paper Work , Background check etc. does take time but it will ALL BE Worth it–Please Be Careful–Watch Your Back & Do not Hesitate to call 911!!!

  2. ““He showed up after some customers had just left,” she said. “When he came in, I was somewhat suspicious – I thought he might have a weapon.””
    so just because he’s black you’re gonna assume he has a weapon. Smh, my nigga was just tryna get it ya feel

    1. Wow claiming someone racist then using the n-word nice job knuckle head language like that will get no ware in life. This one of reason why some people see people of color as criminals by the way you talk and act in public. When you walk down the street calling your “homie” the n-word 20 times in 5 minutes what do expect people to think of you. When your standing in line any your checking out ever women thats walks by yelling crap at them like hey baby can your number blah blah. When you have 10 kids that look hungry as all hell but your out buying $4000 in rims for your car instead of buying some dam food for your kids . When your bumping your bass on your car stereo and its rattling everyones windows for block . please don’t claim racism for your stupidness in life

      1. You both sound extremely unintelligent. The first comment sounds like a troll to me, and the response was so blindly racist and poorly written it was hard to read.
        Hindsight being 20/20 the kid being profiled as a criminal is neither here nor there, because once he started furiously masturbating in a store, he proved that he was in fact a criminal.

        1. Another anonymous commenter full of bs . How is racist to stake the facts of what some of these people do and how they act in public. I am not the one running around calling all my friends the n-word all day . I am not the one that dresses like a thug and acts like thug but doesn’t want be treated as such . No the one that is racist are these knuckle heads that can’t see what there doing to there own race by spouting these words to each other. By having 10 kids by 8 different women then hitting on 10 different women in the same day. Then claiming there just a “player” No your just someone that has no care for your own race. Your the one makes people want to be racist and join some dumb group of even worse people

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