SEATTLE — Seattle Police Department (SPD) detectives are looking for a prowler who entered an off-campus house near the University of Washington (UW) early Sunday morning and assaulted a resident, the SPD said in a press release.
Victims called police after they said a man was inside their home in the 4700 block of 18th Avenue NE around 5 a.m. Sunday.
SPD officers arrived and identified a person of interest from surveillance footage through images. A search of the area was not able to locate the man, however.
Detectives are asking anyone who might recognize the man pictured below to contact the SPD tip line at 206-233-5000.
UW students received an e-mail alert about the home invasion early Sunday morning.
“I think that UW should take a stakeholder responsibility because this is where a majority of the students live,” said Amy Burdick, a student at UW who lives near where the break-in occurred.
This is the second weekend that students have received alerts about a violent crime.
“When things happen like this it’s really not a surprise, which is not comforting,” said Burdick.
The incident comes after a Seattle man was arrested earlier in the week for the gruesome murder of an Indigenous woman, whose body was found along the Burke Gilman Trail near the UW campus. According to court documents, the man charged lives on the same street as Sunday’s break-in and assault.
Seattle police recently added more patrols in the University District after an uptick in violent crime in the last month. Last weekend, four people were shot outside a bar on University Way Northeast. That same weekend, a 21-year-old man was hit and killed while a driver was leaving the scene of a different shooting.
Some students are also taking extra precautions.
“My friend just gave me mace actually in my bag,” said student Nova Berger.
“I don’t know what’s wrong right now, but everyone is really worried and cautious and unusual because we’re used to a very maybe not sheltered, but very safe area,” Berger continued.