Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma Police.
Oct. 26: Pour a fountain drink, get a knife waved in your face.
The Tacoma man filled his cup at a burger joint in the 2400 block of Pacific Avenue. He walked past a 31-year-old man wearing a brown hoodie.
Hoodie mumbled something. The older man didn’t quite catch it and asked if Hoodie was talking to him.
“Why are you in my face?” Hoodie said.
The older man backed away and said he wasn’t looking for trouble. He sat down at a table.
Hoodie followed and asked the older man if he knew “certain people,” the report states.
Hoodie had his hands in his pockets. He took one hand out and held it behind his back. The older man heard a metallic popping sound.
“I’m going to cut your throat,” Hoodie said. He bragged about killing people.
A woman sitting at another table in the restaurant screamed that Hoodie had a knife. Other patrons shouted to call 911.
Hoodie fled. Officers spotted him a few moments later in the street. He stuffed something into a manila envelope and dropped it. Officers took him to the ground and picked up the envelope. They found a six-inch folding knife inside.
Hoodie was booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of intimidation with a weapon.
Oct. 25: It was nothing fancy – just a straight-up armed robbery at a burger joint in the 800 block of South 38th Street.
The 19-year-old cashier was working the counter when the young man came in. He looked about 20, and wore a flannel jacket with a hood. A black bandanna covered everything but his eyes. He carried a plastic grocery bag in his right hand.
His left hand held a gun. He pointed it at the cashier and said, “Give me the money, bitch.”
The cashier opened the register and handed over the money. Bandanna stuffed it in the grocery bag and fled. The cashier called police.
Officers arrived and noticed security cameras. The cashier said she didn’t know how they worked. The owner was in Seattle. He said he’d come down the next day and unearth the footage. A police dog followed Bandanna’s trail – it ended at South 38th and J Streets.
Oct. 23: Tyson was missing. Tyson was a service dog, according to his tearful owner.
His service appeared to consist of sitting outside in a cage-type structure at a church in the 1800 block of East 34th Street.
Tyson’s owner was a 24-year-old woman who suffered from depression and anxiety. For the past week, she’d been staying at the church with her boyfriend, a 46-year-old man.
The owner, her boyfriend and the church pastor said they’d returned from daily duties to find Tyson gone, his cage empty.
Officers examined the cage. A blanket from a church storeroom lay nearby, but there were no signs of burglary or forced entry into the building. Tyson’s leash was on the ground by the cage. His owner said it was a good leash; the dog couldn’t wriggle out of it.
Tyson was a pit bull mix, mostly black with some white on his face, neck and paw. He had no collar, his owner said, and no implanted microchip that might reveal his whereabouts. Officers filed the report as a theft.
Oct. 20: They offered to clean her carpets. Instead, they cleaned her out.
The 77-year-old Tacoma woman lived alone, in the 4000 block of South Warner Street. She told officers two young women calling themselves Lisa and Ann had stopped by to offer cleaning services.
The woman let them in. The younger women looked around at the floors. They were helpful and polite. They said they could do the job, but they would have to come back. At times, they talked to each other in Spanish.
The woman said she had to run some errands. The two younger women offered to give her a ride to a department store in Lakewood. They drove a small red pickup.
The older woman accepted the offer. The younger women drove her to the store, where she bought a few things. They brought her back and left.
“Lisa” called the older woman several times that afternoon. She kept rescheduling the floor-cleaning. She said they were in Puyallup on another job. She added that the older woman left her credit card and some money on the floor of the pickup. They would bring it back tomorrow.
The older woman checked her wallet. Her credit card was missing, along with some cash. That was strange – she’d had the wallet with her the whole time, and couldn’t remember taking anything out, except when she’d paid at the store.
A little later, the woman’s bank called her. Someone was charging items on her credit card at several stores in Lakewood. The totals were running into the hundreds.
The woman told her bank she hadn’t made those purchases. The bank closed the card.
Police spoke to the woman, who gave officers a description of the two young women. They both wore blue coats. She knew their first names and the color of the pickup, but little else.
She remembered thinking it was strange that “Lisa” offered to get her all-new furniture for free. She said if the women came back, she’d call 911 immediately.
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com
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