SEATTLE, WA – Thanks to video reviewed on YouTube, investigators were said to have identified the man who stole a police firearm in Seattle from an SPD vehicle on May 30th.
Now the suspect identified in the video is facing a serious charge of possession of a stolen firearm.
An Everett man has been accused of stealing a high-powered rifle from a patrol car during a protest that was declared a riot in downtown Seattle on May 30.https://t.co/tzfK6yx04T
— Q13 FOX Seattle (@Q13FOX) September 5, 2020
It’s now been over four months since the start of all the riots and protests across the country and police are still working cases linked to some of the most riotous and destructive periods of said national unrest. As is the case with the recent arrest of 24-year-old Jacob Little.
Little was charged on September 4th and made his first appearance in federal that same day. According to the Department of Justice, video evidence showed Little in possession of the bag that held the stolen Colt M4 rifle on May 30th.
The scenery from May 30th in Seattle was chaotic, but investigators were able to spot Little remocing the bag from the police vehicle that was parked outside the downtown Nordstrom store.
Not long after the pilfering that police vehicle, among many others, was destroyed and burned by rioters.
Jacob Little – Seattle Police Department
Authorities acted on the information and video evidence gathered during the investigation and sought out a search warrant for Little’s residence – which was granted.
After executing the search warrant, investigators uncovered text messages from the suspect’s phone show are said to show him trying to facilitate selling the stolen gun.
Those text messages were said to have contained messages from Little to his buyer saying that he’d removed identifying marks from the stolen rifle.
Also, clothing from the suspect’s home was recovered which matched the clothes worn by the person seen in the video stealing the rifle from the police vehicle.
Authorities have yet to recover the firearm, likely due to it already having been sold by the suspect.
ALERT: Man charged with stealing a police gun during Seattle
protests identified with the help of a YouTube video – Global Pandemic News | #Coronavirus #COVID19 #Protests – https://t.co/qBAQ2DmlG4 pic.twitter.com/hJSoLXcg2C— GlobalPandemic.NET (@GlobalPandemics) September 5, 2020
The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals and the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force. If convicted, Little could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for possession of a stolen firearm.
With just about everyone these days having a camera in their pocket by way of their phones, investigating criminal cases has had somewhat of a leg up.
But even video evidence doesn’t tell the whole story when you don’t know who the assailant is – like this one case in Baltimore, Maryland.
Video from a shocking assault has been making the rounds on social media. It shows a suspect strike a man with a brick on the back of the victim’s head, causing the man to fall down.
Reports show that police are not only looking for the suspect – police reportedly have reason to believe that the victim and the aggressor may be familiar with each other.
Just more race based violence against white people that we can all pretend isn’t happening
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 31, 2020
The video appears to have originated on Instagram, uploaded by a user who goes by the moniker “traysavage_” on the platform. However, whether or not this uploader was the person who originally filmed the incident, or simply obtained the video from another source, remains to be determined.
The Instagram uploader had captioned the video with the following:
“Young man you got knocked TF out. Bitch you bet not run. Unk tried to kill yo.”
The man who uploaded this video to Instagram is @ traysavage_. He captions it “white lives don’t matter.” I don’t know if this scumbag is the guy who carried out the attack or if he just found the video. He’s a scumbag either way. pic.twitter.com/8T5erjyKRk
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 31, 2020
The hashtags that followed were “explorepage,” “explore,” “Baltimore” and “White lives don’t matter”.
Initially, the police in Baltimore were reportedly unable to locate the victim. Police have now reportedly been in contact with the victim in this case, but he has not been publicly identified.
The victim was said to have suffered minor injuries from the attack and had opted to not receive medical attention after he was struck. This is part of the reason authorities had difficulty locating the victim initially, as they checked to see if any recent head injures had been admitted to any of the local hospitals after the incident.
When officers first arrived on the scene of the attack when it was reported on Aug. 30, all they had found was a pool of blood presumably left behind from when the victim was attacked.
A witness to the attack stated that it appeared as though the aggressor and victim had argued prior to the attack.
UPDATE: Police say victim and suspect in brick attack might know each otherhttps://t.co/ZuPg0d0tei
— FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) September 2, 2020
Detective Donnie Moses from the Baltimore Police Department stated the following about the case:
“It just goes to show the times we are in.”
Prior to locating the victim, Moses stressed the importance of the victim coming to the police so that the offender can be arrested and prosecuted:
“We feel like they know each other and we need this guy off the streets. If you could do this to someone, who else has he assaulted? Who else has he ambushed basically? He needs to be arrested.”
At this time, it is unclear if any arrest has been made or if identifying information has been shared with police.
_
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing! (See image below.) Thanks for being a part of the LET family!
