Carjacking chase ends in Town Center early Saturday morning

Three men were arrested in the Town Center early Saturday morning on suspicion of carjacking. The men were apprehended following a car chase that began in Seattle.

According to a Mercer Island police report, Washington State Troopers arrested two men at gunpoint after stopping them at the Mercer Island Professional Building located at the corner of 78th Avenue S.E. and 30th Street around midnight on Sept. 6. The state troopers had chased three men in a vehicle from Seattle and onto the Island but one of the suspects escaped.

Island police assisted the state troopers by apprehending the third suspect later that morning and handed him over to the Seattle Police for arrest. According to MIPD Pubic Information Officer Cmdr. Leslie Burns, an Island officer was at Tent City located in the First Hill neighborhood Saturday morning for a routine visit. The officer told camp security that police were looking for a person wanted in the carjacking and shared the description of the suspect.

After the officer returned to his patrol car to record his inspection of Tent City in his log book, he saw the suspect walking toward him up the hill on S.E. 24th Street. Burns said the suspect seemingly attempted to dupe the officer by walking over to him and asking for directions. It did not work. He was arrested on the spot.