Community Police & Fire
Police blotter: Weapons violation in hardware store parking lot
A Gig Harbor Police officer on a “theft deterrence” patrol of the Home Depot parking lot on May 13 spotted a man passed out in a vehicle. When the officer went to check on the man, he saw a 9 mm handgun wedged between the driver’s seat and the center console.
After waiting for other officers to arrive as backup, the officer knocked on the man’s window. The man awoke and complied with the officer’s request that he get out of the vehicle without touching the firearm.
The man explained that he had borrowed the gun and the vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, from a friend. Both weapon and vehicle were indeed registered to that friend. The man said he borrowed the gun following an argument with a roommate.
The man admitted he had never acquired a concealed weapons permit, despite having started the process to do so. He also admitted to having recently smoked marijuana, saying that was why he fell asleep in the car.
He was cited for having a loaded pistol in a vehicle without a permit.
Gotta catch ’em all
An officer walking in the Target store on May 9 noticed a woman wearing several coats and carrying a purse underneath the clothing. The woman appeared to be taking merchandise from shelves and placing it inside the concealed purse.
The officer contacted the woman after watching her walk out of the store without paying for the merchandise. She was found with 12 packages of Pokemon cards and two packages of Bic cigarette lighters for which she had not paid.
She was issued a criminal citation and trespassed from the store, meaning if she is found to have returned to the store she could face burglary charges.
Wheelchair stolen from hospital
A St. Anthony’s Medical Center security guard reported that a wheelchair and oxygen tank were stolen from the hospital early on May 14.
The guard reported that a light-colored possibly Ford pickup parked in front of the emergency room entrance at about 2 a.m. A woman got out, walked into the entrance and pushed out a wheelchair equipped with an oxygen tank.
But instead of wheeling a patient back into the ER, she and another person loaded the chair into the back of the truck and left. The security guard estimated the chair to be worth about $1,000.
St. Anthony’s security promised to see if surveillance footage captured the vehicle’s license plate.
Stolen vehicles, recovered stolen vehicles
Gig Harbor Police responded to the following reports of stolen vehicles and recovered stolen vehicles:
- A 2004 Volkswagon Jetta was reported stolen from an apartment complex on 35th Avenue on May 10. The car was located the next day in the city of Pacific.
- A white Honda Civic was reported to have been abandoned on May 11 near Wilco. The officer who responded determined that it had been stolen in Poulsbo. Wilco employees told officers that two people who had been in the car had shoplifted from the store and attempted to flee before the car died. They grabbed items from the car and ran away. Officers were unable to find them, but did recover Wilco merchandise from a nearby field. The car was impounded until it could be recovered by its owner.
- A green 2001 Subaru Impreza was stolen from the parking lot of the Metropolitan Market between 2:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on May 12. The owner reported that the vehicle was locked and the keys were not inside it.
- An officer patrolling the parking lot of the Home Depot store around noon noticed a red Subaru that had been connected to a suspect in a previous shoplifting incident. A check of the license plate revealed that the plate belongs on a Toyota Camry. The Subaru had been reported stolen from Puyallup. The shoplifting suspect was not located.
- An employee of the Michael’s store on Point Fosdick reported that his vehicle had been stolen sometime on May 17. The employee said the vehicle had no rear window and extensive damage from a previous collision. The report did not specify the make or model of the vehicle.