Warning issued after family of shoplifters hit West Seattle stores

SEATTLE — A couple of shops in West Seattle are warning other businesses to be on the lookout for a large group of shoplifters – including kids – who trashed their shops earlier this week.

“They just kind of all came in at once and the kids started picking up things on the table grabbing stuff from outside walking around with it,” said Alyssa Kaliszewski, co-owner of the vintage clothing store Doll Parts Collective.

She said a large group of people – two to three women, with several kids – came into her store last Thursday afternoon.

And almost immediately, she noticed their odd behavior.

“They all were sort of barraging me with questions at the same time,” said Kaliszewski.

She showed KIRO 7 security video, saying “you can tell it’s very orchestrated. They’re literally pinning me in between a rack and just aggressively holding things very close to my face so I can’t see what’s happening behind them.”

The store owner said the group stayed for around five minutes, but she managed to gather just about everything the group was trying to take.

Then she noticed someone had even gone through her bag.

“Had my wallet, you know, medications… they went through it,” said Kaliszewski.

She posted photos online, then heard from My Three Little Birds, a children’s consignment shop nearby.

Manager Kiki Elbel says the same group came into the store that same afternoon.

“Really loud and boisterous – they all spread out and kids started pulling stuff off the shelf and taking packages apart and the women were asking those questions and kind of trying to distract my other employee and I and as we’re helping other customers,” said Elbel. “It felt like it was definitely organized chaos.”

She says the group stole hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise.

“It was a gut punch i was just sick to my stomach thinking that kids were involved in this as well,” said Elbel.

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