A Capitol Hill woman says she was robbed at gunpoint earlier this afternoon by a man who chased her down, tackled her and stole her iPod.
Ashley Wolff, a 24-year-old Capitol Hill resident, says she was walking on 15th Ave between E Prospect Street and E Ward at about 3pm when an African-American man in his late teens or early twenties approached her, tapped her on the shoulder and asked her for change for a dollar.
When Wolff said she didn’t have change, the man demanded her iPod Nano. When she refused, he pulled out a black handgun. Wolff screamed and took off running, but the man chased her down the block and tackled her to the ground. The man took her iPod and ran off.
Bystanders called 911. “There were a lot of witnesses,” Wolff says. “There were kids playing out there on the sidewalk.”
Police and got a description of the man, Wolff says, and paramedics treated her at the scene. “I have a big four inch scrape on my back that’s pretty nasty,” she says. “I’m bruised and scraped up, but other than that I’m fine.”
Wolff says she generally feels safe in Seattle, but says she’s shocked by the amount of force used in the robbery. “I never thought anyone would come after my iPod with a gun,” she says. “It’s an iPod.”
Unfortunately, cases like Wolff’s are becoming increasingly more common in Seattle. According to statistics released by the Seattle Police Department late last month, robberies have been on the rise since 2007. Department records say that in 2007, there were 1,522 robberies in Seattle. In 2008, that number rose 6% to 1,612. However, in the first four months of 2009, police say there were 570 robberies, up a whopping 25% from the same period last year.
In an interview with The Stranger earlier this month, Interim Police Chief John Diaz pointed to “job losses and the economy” as a significant contributing factors to the rise in crime in Seattle, where burglaries and assaults involving weapons have also increased 10% and 17%, respectively.
The core of the problem is that the police don’t prevent crime, they show up after the fact and take a report. Perhaps they do an investigation if they are not busy or they might bust someone finally that has been involved in many of these crimes…but truth be told they very rarely prevent crime.
It is my unpopular belief that we have gone soft and basically just cry to “mom and dad” (the police and government) when situations happen like this. While crime should be reported to the police, I don’t agree that we should be giving in to criminals demands or trust that they won’t kill us anyway after their demands are met.
There are many self-defense strategies…#1 being – Be aware of your surroundings. If you are listening to your Ipod you are more at risk. #2 Pepperspray, mace, stun gun, taser, etc #3 – And I will be attacked by Seattle-ites on this one…get a gun! You can get a conceal permit as long as you do not have a felony I believe. Before people attack me on this, gun laws will not prevent the criminals from having them so law-adibing citizens should have them and be trained on how to use them if they choose to do so.
While some people standing up to the criminals could get injured or killed (they might anyways without fighting) this would drastically reduce the crime rate when criminals know that there is a good chance people will put up a fight. Right now, criminals are very comfortable that everyone will bend over and give them whatever they want.
@53 I agree with your point #2. As far as #1- she was listening to her ipod IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. When you can’t walk around Seattle listening to music in the middle of the day something is very wrong. While “suggestions” such as this are well intended all they do is further diminish the freedom of residents while incresing the power of the criminals. The solution is for the “witnessess” to have jumped on this motherfckr. If 1/2 of all muggings resulted in the mugger being beaten rather than galked at by onlookers there would be less crime. We are held hostage by thugs who know people won’t stand up to them. This is why this girl’s actions are admirable. We need people to fight back in situations like this rather than “be more careful”.
Seven teenapers shot today in Detroit:
======================
Police: 7 teens shot near Detroit school
AP
By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press Writer Jeff Karoub, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago
DETROIT – Gunmen in a green minivan opened fire on a group of teenagers waiting at a bus stop near a Detroit school on Tuesday, wounding at least seven including two who were in critical condition, authorities said.
At least five of the teens, including the two in critical condition, had just gotten out of summer classes at Cody Ninth Grade Academy when they were shot at the nearby bus stop, said Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes.
Two gunmen, possibly three, emerged from the green minivan and “asked for a person by name” before they “opened fire at the crowd,” Detroit Police spokesman Rod Liggons told WXYZ-TV.
The students’ names and ages weren’t immediately released.
“We have confirmed the name of several of the students, but we have to make sure we talk with the parents,” Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said at the scene of the shooting on Detroit’s west side.
Bria Wilson, 15, was standing at the bus stop when she heard the gunfire. Wilson said she was facing away from the shooters and ran away after the shots were fired. She said she saw a 16-year-old male friend lying on the ground, bleeding.
“They were so close — it almost hit me,” said Wilson, who was heading home from summer school classes at Cody Academy.
@55 –
I totally agree with you. People should be able walk around listening to their ipods at anytime and in no way was I trying to criticize the person this happened to. I was just merely pointing out that self-defense tip #1 (from professional training) is always be aware of your surrounding…whether or not people want to do that at all times is totally up to their discretion. 😛 Hell I listen to my Zune and walk around without a car in the world.
And 100% great point, that no one aids anyone who is being attacked. Everyone is paralyzed and look around for the police screaming “Help”. You, the witnesses are the help!!! If everyone around would come help out, the sheer numbers would stop this type of thing…and likely without violence as the offender would get nervous when 10 people stepped up on them.
here’s a tip that might help– If you use an ipod, use headphones/earbuds with black, not white, cords
56: What the hell does a shooting in Detroit, however awful it is, have to do with an armed robbery near Volunteer Park? Yes, Seattle is clearly a safer city than Detroit. Sure, we should be glad we don’t live in such a violent, destroyed city. That’s completely irrelevant. The fact that this happened near volunteer park is just as unusual as it would be if it happened on Jefferson Ave, just east of the Detroit/Grosse Pointe border.
I was wondering where the anonymous loser had gone. Found a girlfriend? Been hired? No, just found another thread to pollute. Poor, poor pitiful twat…
62 – only a complete loser would be something from another city… lets say, Denver, posting on a website for a Seattle newspaper.
Funny how some of you can only respond with insults when faced with indisputable facts that contradict your naive liberal worldview. That means you have no real logical argument and that you know it too, deep down inside. It also means that you have obviously lost the debate. Hope you enjoy the shitty future that you are helping to create! Try not to get raped or killed too much.
I have a feeling someone is butthurt @ 62 & 64, but I can’t read their comments so I don’t know for sure. If only he would register…
Whoops, that’s obviously “butthurt @ 63 & 64.” I’m not butthurt about anything. Tee hee.
65
What kind of Moron Loser would comment about comments he claims he can’t even read?
Listen, getting robbed once in awhile, maybe even mugged or raped is a small price to pay for the wonderful diversity we enjoy in our city. Just suck it up and deal with it, I would gladly hand over my laptop in exchange for being able to see a hiphop concert once in awhile.
“What the hell does a shooting in Detroit, however awful it is, have to do with an armed robbery near Volunteer Park?”
there is a common denominator, see if you can figure it out
@42..Statistics can not be accurately interpreted unless you consider the context in which they occur.
Read Savage Inequalities by Johnaton Kozol.
Oh..and go f@%k yourself, racist:)
Fun fact: When you turn off the unregistered comments, the trolls (some of whom are fucking hilarious) all disappear.
In this case, reading comments by Matt from Denver begins to read like “Garfield without Garfield.” One lone dude shouting odd things to nobody in particular.
Seriously, y’all. Try it. Amusing for almost five seconds.
Once again the stereotype is confirmed.
Comment by: Kufukahn
This guys race has nothing to do with his crime. He is responsible for his actions not his race.
I agree, 75, it’s fun.
@ Julie Russel – I dont mind you being blind to crime facts but you’ll look cuter if you put your fingers in your ears and go “na na na na na na na…”. Do it. Come on. Very good.
We should all pitch in and buy Ashley a gun, not an iPod. She’s rad.
Ackham pointed out the best part about this thread. Well played, Ackham!
@76: would that be the stereotype of the ipod wearing entitlement-generation woman, choosing to be deaf to the reality of the world and involuntarily numb to it too? because I think Miss Wolfe proves she has a little more going on in there than the typical vapid trustie-wannabe.
Or
the typical slog troll commenters? in which case; yes, as usual, they act like imbeciles, barely managing to literally comment, let alone contribute to any sort of web-community discussion, or *gawd forbid*, enter here with an open enough mind to leave with something new in it.
My 2 bits on personal defense: Conceal a Taser: it’s the happy medium – all the incapicitation of firearm bullets with none of the blood. Me, I’m saving up for a blackmarket X12: 100 feet range, bigass tasing BULLETS.
My 2bits on racism debate : it doesn’t matter what pigment of skin the victim nor the criminal have. “Crime happened in a usually tame/well-heeled area, and the victim didn’t roll over” is the story.
Note to potential ipod thiefs: going to a rich neighborhood where their guard is down is clever, but stay the hell off cap hill – it’s too much work – we’re on to your MO.
I can’t wait for criminals to finally catch on and start using black market tasers like the one Rev described to start robbing people. I’m surprised they haven’t started doing that yet.
@78…guess we haven’t met. There is nothing I could do to look cute.
Correlating crime and race without considering societal factors that contribute to one’s upbringing/ drive to commit crime is moronic.
Kozol does an excellent job of spelling out the factors that lead to the creation of a criminal. He visits the most affluent communities (Cherry Hill, NJ,etc) as well as the most impoversished (near Gary, Indiana, I think) and paints an accurate picture of what schools look like in each community, how family structures are different,etc.
It lets you see these disparities in predominatly black hoods vs. white-bread hoods and he articulates it well..something I am incapable of.
If you look at stats alone, and NOT the context in which they occur, I’m guessing it’s b/c you know you wont like what you find if you dig a little deeper.
What’s the world coming to when a decent female gun owner can’t stop from being robbed in a public park?
Oh, wait, you mean the headline didn’t mean that.
Never mind.
Good thing it wasn’t an iPhone.
A college friend died a protracted, horrible death after being shot in the head resisting in exactly a situation like this. She was certainly brave. But how could it be worth it?
Especially since they are only worth $99.
82. To extend my point, I mean… think about it if you’re a desperate criminal and you get yourself a black market taser. You don’t even have to point a weapon in your victim’s face, confront and threaten them, and give them a chance to resist. You just sneak up on them, tase them, then take whatever you want from the now-defenseless victim.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried this.
82. To extend my point, I mean… think about it if you’re a desperate criminal and you get yourself a black market taser. You don’t even have to point a weapon in your victim’s face, confront and threaten them, and give them a chance to resist. You just sneak up on them, tase them, then take whatever you want from the now-defenseless victim.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried this.