By Tim Clifford

Knife-wielding shoplifter
On Sep. 14 police were called to a grocery store located on the 2600 block of S.W. Barton St. at 9:20 a.m. to investigate a report of a shoplifting suspect who pulled a knife on store employees. The store manager, one of the victims, explained the incident to police and shared what is reported to be strikingly clear video surveillance footage of the incident.

According to the manager’s account the suspect first caught the attention of store employees when she was spotted standing by a self-checkout machine that was switched off. After an employee informed the woman that the stand was closed she walked off carrying a canvas bag and began wandering through the aisles filling it with groceries. Eventually she returned near the check stands and sat down on the floor next to the Starbuck’s inside the store.

Store employees began keeping an eye on the woman as she sat on the floor. After 10 minutes she got up and began heading towards the door without paying for her groceries. One of the employees approached the woman and asked “are you going to pay for your groceries?” The woman quickly turned around with a fixed-blade knife out and stated “don’t f*** with me”. The employee backed away and allowed her to leave. At that point the manager approached and the woman pulled the knife out once more, facing the manager with it drawn as she backed out of the store.

The suspect is described as being a black female standing 5’9 with a pony tail, medium build, wearing black clothing with black knee high boots and wearing a red backpack. None of the victims recognized this woman as a regular customer of the store. An area check turned up negative results. The suspect remains at large.

“Give me a beer”
On Sep. 14, around 3:42 a.m., a woman was robbed at 8 Ave. S./ S. Cloverdale St. as she was walking home from a party. The victim was still somewhat intoxicated when police interviewed her about the incident and had trouble explaining clearly what had happened.
According to the victim she was walking home and carrying a case of beer under one arm and walking her bicycle (it had two flat tires) when a man approached her from the South Park Library. At first he asked her if he could have one of her beers and when she said “no” he offered to buy one for a dollar. When the victim again declined to give him a beer the man grabbed the beer case saying “B****, give me a beer” and began tugging it away from her.
The victim refused to let go of the beer case and a small struggle ensued, during which the suspect pulled out a black handgun. Once the victim saw the gun she let go of the beer case and called 911. The suspect ran away.
Police gave the victim a ride home and as they were passing an apartment complex located at 8 Ave. S./ S. Cloverdale the victim informed the officers that she had seen the suspect standing in front of those buildings earlier that night. An area searched turned up negative results for the suspect. The suspect remains at large.

Crimes reported between Sep. 11 and Sep. 18

Burglaries by block: 7100 block of California Ave. S.W., 9400 block of 7 Ave. S.W.

Car prowls by block: 3400 block of 41 Ave. S.W., 4300 block of S.W. Alaska St., 5400 block of 47 Ave. S.W.

Car thefts by block: 1600 block of Sunset Ave. S.W., 2200 block of California Ave. S.W., 4700 block of S.W. Findlay St., 5600 block of 21 Ave. S.W., 6000 block of 31 Ave. S.W., 7100 block of California Ave. S.W., 7900 block of 12 Ave. S.W., 7 Ave. S./ S. Monroe St., 8600 block of 17 Ave. S.W., 10800 block of 35 Ave. S.W.