Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Burglars take the good stuff from two restaurants

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police , Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One  and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

An unknown suspect stole hundreds of dollars worth of alcohol from two Gig Harbor restaurants on Oct. 10, causing extensive damage to both buildings in the process.

At a restaurant on Judson Street, surveillance footage showed a suspect breaking into the building and taking 12 bottles of wine valued at $105 apiece. The restaurant owner estimated the suspect caused about $2,000 in damage to the establishment’s door.

The same morning, the owner of a restaurant on nearby Pioneer Way reported a suspect taking $250 in cash and bottles of bourbon, gin and Wild Turkey.

The surveillance footage from the first restaurant provided only a vague description of the suspect.

Caught red-footed

A store on Hunt Street reported that a $240 pair of boots was stolen on the afternoon of Oct. 8. The store provided a responding officer with footage showing a suspect putting on the boots in the store and walking out without paying for them.

Less than an hour after receiving the footage, another officer identified the suspect as resembling a 43-year-old Gig Harbor man he had previously arrested.

The investigating officer went to the suspect’s house. He was still wearing the boots when he answered the door.

The suspect acknowledged that the theft was “a stupid thing to do” and returned the boots. The officer issued a criminal citation and court date.

Burglars using sophisticated tools

Suspects made off with at least $300 in quarters after burglarizing a car wash around 6 a.m. on Oct. 11.

The car wash manager provided police with surveillance footage, but the suspects wore masks and hoods and couldn’t be identified. The footage showed three people using sophisticated tools to gain access to the building.

Officers described the suspects using a tool that shoots “hardened spikes with pyrotechnic charges.”  It still took the suspects about 25 minutes to get in the door.

The suspects attempted to use a “wrecking saw” to cut into a change machine, but were foiled when it lost its charge. However, they found and took a bag containing $300 to $400 worth of quarters, which the car wash uses to fill the change machine.

The surveillance footage showed the suspects leaving in a white van, which did not have license plates.

Two killed in KP collision

Two people died in a collision on Key Peninsula Highway at Fourth Avenue Northwest in Lakebay early on the morning of Oct. 8, according to the Pierce County Sheriffs Office.

Investigators believe that speed and intoxication were factors in the single-car collision. The vehicle veered off the road and hit a power pole. Officers found drugs and paraphernalia inside the vehicle.

A 62-year-old female driver and a 63-year-old male passenger died in the crash.