SEATTLE — A fossilized mammoth tusk valued at $19,000 was stolen from a fine art gallery in downtown Seattle on Tuesday.
In the surveillance video provided by the owner of Fossil & Stone, a man can be seen grabbing the roughly 12,000-year-old tusk and running out of the store using an emergency exit. The suspect escaped in a stolen purple PT Cruiser driven by another person, according to police.
Prior to the theft, the suspect was "wandering around" the store, according to police. The suspect told store employees his mother was in the store earlier. After walking around the store some more, the suspect grabbed the tusk and ran.
An employee who had followed the suspect out of the store sprayed pepper spray in the suspect's direction as she ran toward the getaway vehicle, but it hit her instead.
The tusk is believed to be approximately 12,000 years old.
The suspect was described as a male, roughly 6 feet tall and 20-30 years old. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black baggy jeans with black and white hand tattoos.
Property crime has spiked in recent months, along with violent crime, has spiked across Seattle, with retail thefts like the one downtown on Thursday causing a major disruption.
In February, city officials called for an audit of organized retail thefts across the city, seeking solutions to an issue that's become so prolific over the last two years that at least one business, Simply Seattle, closed its Pioneer Square location.
In 2021, property crime increased in Seattle by 9% compared to 2020, with larceny-theft up 15% overall, according to the Seattle Police Department's annual crime report.