An apartment building in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood is the latest target of vandalism in the city.
The Monday morning incident was the latest of many that police say stem back to last year.
Oddly, someone threw a gold rock scrawled with messages of hope through the glass front door of the building.
The apartment building’s manager said it was very disheartening to see something positive used to shatter the sense of security.
“It was just completely shattered,” the manager said.
One side of the rock said, “My humanity is tied to your humanity.” Another side said, “More hope, less fear in 2021.”
King County prosecutors said while they’re seeing fewer acts of vandalism, the instances are higher profile and the damages are more costly to repair.
Two weeks ago, someone took a hammer to nine display cases at the downtown Seattle Nordstrom flagship store. Each window is valued at more than $50,000.
Eight of the 100-year-old stained glass sanctuary windows were broken at the Central Lutheran Church, Pastor Maynard Atik said.
The Starbucks at Pike Place Market was also vandalized, its windows broken.
“We drove 20 hours and really wanted to see the original Starbucks,” said Emily Gao, who was visiting Seattle from Los Angeles.
In 2019, the King County prosecutor’s office was referred 214 cases of malicious mischief, mostly property destruction. In 2020, the number dropper to 169. But business owners told KIRO 7 they’ve seen a profound increase in graffiti.
Officials from the prosecutor’s office said most of the high-profile cases of vandalism have not yet been referred to them and remain under investigation by police.
Cox Media Group