King County Sheriff’s Office deputies say their investigation remains open and active regarding a West Seattle man’s report of an armed robbery aboard a Metro bus. We heard a little about it the night it happened, then learned the victim had reported it on a neighborhood mailing list. We asked if he would share that story with WSB, and he agreed:
At around 12:10 a.m. Friday, August 29, 2025, I boarded the King County Metro C Line at 3rd Ave. and Pike St. in downtown Seattle and sat down in an empty elevated seat near the middle set of double-doors.
After a few minutes, a twenty-something black male in a blue hoodie sweatshirt moved to a seat directly across the aisle from me. He was carrying a skateboard, and had been in the seat behind me. He began engaging me in conversation with questions like, “Where are you headed?” and “What have you been up to tonight?”
It seemed a little strange, but I carried on the conversation in order to be polite. He said that he liked skating because it kept him out of trouble. I think he said that he had been skating at Cal Anderson park on Capitol Hill.
Another man, this one a twenty-something white male who was in the seat in front of the black male, joined in the conversation as well.
After ten to fifteen minutes of occasional chit chat, and as the bus was driving up Avalon Way, the black man moved into my seat and said in a calm, low voice “this is a gun.”
I could see that his hand was in the front pocket of his hoodie and the outline of what appeared, in fact, to be a handgun. He pushed what felt like the barrel up against my side. He told me to hand over my wallet or else he was going to shoot me. “I need it,” he said.
Unsure of whether I should comply or not, I didn’t respond for at least a few seconds before he reached into my right front pocket and removed my wallet. Somehow he knew exactly where it was. He said, “I need it,” again and moved out of my seat and walked up the aisle to stop in front of the
firstmiddle set of doors. I could see now that he was about 6’1″ in height, of slim to medium build.I began yelling to the driver that I had just been robbed at gunpoint and not to open the doors at the next stop so that the perpetrator couldn’t escape. I pointed at the man who robbed me while yelling to the driver.
The perpetrator shrugged and said, “What?” frowning as if he hadn’t done anything.
I stepped into the aisle and the white man who had been part of the conversation stepped in front of me with his back to me, intentionally blocking my way. I realized at that moment that they were co-conspirators. I tried to get by him, but he was too large and heavy. In the scuffle, I punched him and kicked him in the side. The bus turned the corner onto 35th Ave. SW, reaching its next stop. I continued yelling at the driver but he opened the doors anyway and the perpetrators exited the bus. The black man appeared to head north on 35th. I didn’t see which direction the white man went. I called 911 from inside the bus. Later when I checked, I discovered that it was 12:30 a.m. when I made
the call. I described what had happened to the dispatcher. In the course of the conversation, I discovered that the underside of my right forearm was bruised and bleeding from a long cut. I surmised that I acquired it during my scuffle with the white man. The dispatcher communicated my injury to the Fire Department and relayed my call to the King County Sheriffs, who arrived on scene and took my statement.
His report # is C25026195; we asked KCSO – which has jurisdiction in crimes aboard Metro buses – about it, and they say they sent out a K9 team but no one was found, and they have no further information, though the investigation remains open and active.
ADDED 4:45 PM: The victim adds that he has more descriptive information for the white suspect: “He had short brown hair, stood about 5’10,” and was of stocky to heavyset build. He was wearing a white t-shirt which I believe had some text or image on it. I could see that he had some kind of suitcase, bag, or backpack with him, and a device a few feet long with a claw on one end that you open and close by squeezing a handle on the opposite end.”
