5 juveniles arrested after weeks-long crime spree

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SEATTLE - Five young suspects under the age of 16 were arrested after a chase with Seattle Police in a stolen vehicle following their week-long crime spree.

On May 7, officers responded to reports of five teens wearing masks who abandoned a running vehicle in the middle of the 8000 block of 16th Avenue Northwest in the Maple Leaf neighborhood.

While they were en route, officers learned the males had stolen another vehicle and sped away. Witnesses were able to provide police with both plates and officers learned one car was involved in an armed robbery earlier in the day.

Based on the description of the juveniles and the pattern in the way the crimes were committed, detectives suspected they were a group of juvenile males behind a crime spree that started at the end of April.

The King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Unit, Guardian One, began to track the vehicle from the air.

SPD’s SWAT Team moved in position behind the car and after a brief pursuit, the juveniles crashed into another uninvolved vehicle at the intersection of Northwest 80th Street and 15th Avenue Northwest in North Seattle.

Three of the suspects were immediately apprehended, one was caught after a short chase on foot. The fifth was located by Guardian One hiding in a nearby yard and taken into custody.

It's believed the five juveniles were connected to a series of crimes that started on April 29. These crimes included more than a dozen robberies, assaults, car thefts and hit-and-runs.

Following a vehicle pursuit, five boys were arrested in connection to several vehicle thefts, vehicular assaults and robberies that occurred over the last several weeks in Seattle.

In one day, they allegedly robbed a convenience store in the 1500 block of East Madison Street at gunpoint, tried to run over a man with their vehicle at the Magnuson Park Boat Launch, and assaulted a woman in the 9200 block of Woodlawn Avenue North, according to Seattle Police.

They were linked to a car arson in Lake City Way and the assault of an unhoused man nearby.

Most of the crimes happened in the early hours of April 29.

It's believed they are connected to three other crime sprees on May 3, May 5 and May 7. Those are still being investigated.

"These suspects have been such a danger to society and a general nuisance that many Seattle Police officers had been actively looking for them," court documents read.

The suspects are 16, 15, 14 and two are 12 years old. All were sent to the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center and are booked on a plethora of felonies.