Police arrest suspect in North Seattle purse snatchings

SEATTLE — Officers searching for a knife-wielding suspect after a woman’s purse was stolen have arrested a man in the Roosevelt neighborhood who may be responsible for a string of similar robberies.

At about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, police received a report that a man in a windbreaker had cut a purse off a woman's arm and ran through the yards of several homes near Northeast 71st Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast.

During the search, Seattle police sent out a tweet saying they were looking for a man in a red windbreaker.

Chopper 7 flew to the search scene and was overhead as a man in a red jacket was being taken into custody at 1035 Northeast 71^st Street.

The incident was the sixth similar robbery in the Wedgwood and Ravenna neighborhoods of North Seattle.

The first robbery occurred on Feb. 2 when a man armed with a knife stole a purse from a 91-year-old woman as she was walking up the steps to her home near Northeast 75^th and 39^th Avenue Northeast.

On Feb. 14, a 77-year-old man said a robber used a knife to cut open his back pocket and steal his wallet near Northeast 60th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast.   After stealing the man's wallet, the robber shoved the man to the ground and fled.

On Feb. 20, a robber cut the strap off a woman's purse near Northeast 72nd and Roosevelt Way Northeast, a block from the scene of Tuesday's robbery.

A half-hour after that robbery, a man armed with a box cutter sliced the strap on a woman's purse near Northeast 65^th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast, cutting the woman's hand in the process.

On Monday, a man grabbed a woman's purse off her shoulder as she was walking near Northeast 75^th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast as she was on her way home from the grocery store.

All of the robberies occurred between 2 p.m.-3 p.m.

Detectives said they have not determined if the cases are connected.

KIRO