SEATTLE — Four Seattle boys face a range of criminal charges after a crime spree that included stealing cars and robbing stores, according to charging documents in the case.
The suspects, ranging in age from 12 to 15, are accused of assault, burglary, malicious mischief and possession of a stolen vehicle. There initially was a fifth suspect, but the King County Prosecutor's Office said Seattle police did not send a case referral, making a charging decision impossible.
KING 5 does not typically name criminal suspects who are under the age of 18 unless they are charged as adults.
Probable cause documents say that a Seattle Police Department detective "has it on good authority" that the 15-year-old facing the most charges among the group is "actively recruiting" young boys to join a street gang that he has started in the Sand Point area. A witness told police they had seen this teen "hanging out" with boys as young as 10 near his home.
SPD said it first became "inundated" with calls about a string of crimes that appeared to have been committed by the same group of four to five individuals. Police cross-referenced surveillance video from the incidents with footage showing the suspects returning to the area near their homes on April 29.
Police connected the suspects to a burglary and property damage incident at a Rite Aid on 35th Avenue Northeast. Surveillance showed the boys break the window of the business and try unsuccessfully to break into the liquor cabinet before taking off with several 24-packs of beer, court documents say.
Shortly after that incident, police say the boys pulled into a Circle K on Northeast 75th Street. After allegedly stealing a display of small whiskey bottles without being noticed, the boys went back in. The clerk told the boys to leave, and he said the boys backed their stolen vehicle toward the clerk. The driver is charged with assault in the first degree with a deadly weapon enhancement, court documents say.
The next incident came after a woman said she was on the sidewalk when the suspects' vehicle tried to hit her multiple times. The same vehicle eventually chased her down, with the boys demanding her backpack. She said she feared for her safety and gave it to them. After a witness came by to help the woman, the suspects apparently drove back toward the victim and threw beer cans at them. The witness took down the license plate, which matched the vehicle seen in the other confirmed incidents.
An attempted auto theft was also recorded by police at an address on 13741 30th Avenue Northeast and tied to two of the suspects. Police mention an arson and an assault of a homeless man as potentially being perpetrated by the suspects, but court documents say there was not enough evidence to confirm their involvement.
SPD said there are three other subsequent crime sprees that could yield additional charges for the suspects. The boys were arrested on May 7 after a pursuit in the Ballard neighborhood.
Prosecutors said all of the suspects are being held in secure detention as investigations are ongoing.
