Spike in violent crime reported at Capitol Hill Dick's Drive-In

SEATTLE — Dick's Drive-In on Capitol Hill is expected be swarmed tonight with people hoping to catch a free Macklemore concert. But police will be looking out for more than just an unruly crowd.

KIRO 7 has learned that in the past month there have been six robberies near the burger joint on Broadway, and another incident involving a gun threat. Last Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., a man pulled a gun on a man in the Dick's parking lot who had just asked him to move his car.

Seattle Police Department documents reveal last week's gun-waving threat is in addition to six robberies in the immediate area of Dick's Burgers over the past month. Because of the habitual drug and alcohol abuse in the parking lot of Dick's that often time leads to violent crime, law enforcement officers have increased their patrol presence.

Regular Dick's customer Jon Moore is happy to hear that. "If they're going to increase patrols, that's a good thing. Anything they can do to protect the people, I'm all for it," he said.

According to police documents, in three of those six robberies guns were used, which doesn't scare-off regular customer Ken Campbell, who said, "Given the area, it doesn't surprise me. You would think at that point that maybe some on-site security would be appropriate."

KIRO 7 reporter Amy Clancy asked a spokesperson at Dick's what the company is doing to help the Seattle Police Department combat the criminal activity, and was referred to the security manager, who so far has not called back. Meanwhile, business at the Broadway location continues to boom with loyal customers like Susan Espanol. "We like Dick's, so we'll definitely keep coming, but I'm glad to hear that the police did increase patrols," she said. "(But) I definitely wouldn't let my kids or my grandkids come alone."

KIRO