Bellevue police say they've curbed uptick in violent Crossroads crime

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Nearly six months after Bellevue's police chief said he would not tolerate the rise in violent crime gripping the Crossroads neighborhood, prosecutors say a man was attacked from behind and robbed at Crossroads Park by three strangers, including a man now charged with murder in the city's first homicide case in more than three years.

Related: Bellevue police: Crossroads neighborhood experiencing ‘significant' rise in violence

Despite the recent robbery, that investigators said happened just after 8 p.m. on September 22, Bellevue police tell KIRO 7 they've been able to curb an uptick in violent crime in the Crossroads neighborhood through arrests and extra patrols and are seeing "crime statistics dropping in that area."

"The chief said in April this would not be tolerated – has the department lived up to that?" asked KIRO 7 reporter Michael Spears in an interview with Bellevue Police Major Andrew Popochock.

Related: Teen killed at Bellevue park identified

"I would say that we have lived up to that up," said Popochock. "The arrests were made in that homicide – I would say that we focus on that safe community feeling."

Bellevue police told neighbors at an April meeting that more than 25 gunshots had reportedly been fired in the Crossroads neighborhood since late January of this year and connected the recent rise in violence, including brazen assaults, largely to a group of about 15 people.

"If you look at our statistics of incidents where shots have been fired, they've gone down dramatically," said Popochock, referring to the Crossroads neighborhood. "There were six incidents early this year, and we're down to one recently."

Related: Four arrested in connection with murder of 18-year-old in Bellevue

On Thursday, police said there had been no reported drive-by shootings in the Crossroads area since the April homicide at Goldsmith Park. Three drive-by shootings were reported in the neighborhood between January and April, police said.

The department will hold another Crossroads safety forum October 23, 2019 at 6 p.m. at Stevenson Elementary School to discuss the violence, safety concerns and area crime trends.

Cox Media Group