The following was compiled from Renton Police Department case reports.
Saying he wasn’t going to spend Christmas in jail, a man fled empty handed after he tried to steal mail from mailboxes Dec. 23 in the 12500 block of Southeast 168th Street.
A husband and wife, who was driving, spotted him acting suspiciously, next to mailboxes, holding mail in his hand. The couple stopped and the husband asked whether he owned the mail, which he dropped, then picked up and placed back in a mailbox and walked off.
But the husband brandished his .45 caliber Glock and told him to say put, the police were coming. He said something like, he’d get shot if he moved or ran.
Since he didn’t want to spend Christmas in jail, he ran. Gun in hand, the 48-year-old Renton man, who has a concealed weapons- permits, chased him and almost tripped him.
But he was outrun. He remembered a friend’s similar situation from 20 years ago. He fired a warning shot into the air. The suspect still fled and neighbors called 911.
The officer educated him about gun safety and why shooting his gun verged on recklessness. Where would the bullet end up? And he couldn’t fire a warning shot on the possibility someone might break into a neighbor’s house. The man seemed almost jovial in describing what happened.
He was cited for unlawfully aiming and discharging a weapon.
LAPTOP STOLEN, RETRIEVED: A 15-year-old homeless boy chased a male from the Renton Library and toward Liberty Park on Dec. 28 who had just stolen his laptop.
The thief hit the victim twice on the cheek in front of the library but he continued the chase, with the help of others. The victim followed the thief and two others into an alley, where he grabbed the laptop.
Two males were questioned but neither was the thief. The boy and his mother are staying at a shelter in Renton.
TRANSIENT ROBBED: A 20-year-old transient in a sleeping bag in front of Gamestop on Rainier Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. Dec. 28 was told by two youths with skinny builds it was dangerous to sleep outside.
They then told him to get out of his sleeping bag and struck him in the face and stole his cellphone. They threatened to shoot him, but he didn’t see a gun. Blood and pizza crumbs were on the ground.
The two youths were visible on security footage from a nearby store. A K9 track failed to find the suspects.
IT’S NOT YOUR TITLE: The man insisted that the van two men just exited Dec. 26 belonged to his father, which the two denied.
The two insisted they had the van’s title but the argument continued. One of them grabbed a cigarette lighter from his back pocket. The suspect pulled out a knife and can of pepper spray and asked “Are you going to give me the van now?”
The answer was no and he sprayed the other man with the pepper spray.
Go ahead, call police, the suspect said, then walked off. But he threatened to come back with his pistol.
A passerby helped the victim wash off the pepper spray. The man who was pepper sprayed has seen the man before, arguing with Jesus on the bus.
The van’s plates were clear but records didn’t show a notice of sale.
I NEED THE MONEY: A 28-year-old Omak woman was told by her brother that his friend would give her money for computer if she stole one.
So, on Dec. 23 at about 3:30 p.m., she walked into Wal-Mart on Rainier Avenue, placed a computer in her cart and walked out. She was redirected to the loss prevention office.
She was cited and ordered not to come back to Wal-Mart for a year.
