What’s with the FBI and SWAT teams running around Bainbridge?
January 7th, 2010 by tristan baurick
Seems like
that’s the question of the day here on Bainbridge Island.
If you passed by the Miller Road side of Grand Forest Park today, you would not have missed all the camo gear, the M-16s, the body armor, the armored SWAT van, the dozens of police cars, the big command center RV and the 50 or so FBI, local police, state patrol, county sheriffs, Homeland Security personnel and U.S. Marshals running all over the place.
Pretty exciting stuff for our quiet island.
Don’t worry, no one was hurt and no guns were fired. And, no, it wasn’t about the high-flying “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore. All those local, state and federal officers were looking for evidence related a not-quite-as-infamous local bandit, Bradley S. Robinett, an ex-Marine wanted for several robberies and fleeing police.
You might remember an incident back in September in which a man stole a car, led police on a chase near Battle Point Park and then escaped to Poulsbo via stolen kayak.
It was a blotter item here on the Conversation, which you can re-read here. Police now believe that man was Robinett, who has since gotten into trouble in the region for stealing cars and other criminal acts. He also has a history of bank robbing and illegal gun possession.
Police were searching the Grand Forest for a possible a cache of guns and stolen items, or even a shelter, which Robinett is known to construct and live in from time to time.
“His M.O. is that he’s a woodsman, a survivalist. He likes to build little structures in the woods and stash the fruits of his crimes,” Bainbridge Det. Trevor Ziemba told me today when I arrived at the search’s staging area outside Island Center Hall. Ziemba also explained that the number of law enforcement officers and the degree in which they were armed and armored was a precaution against a possible meeting with Robinett, who is considered armed and dangerous.
Thanks to all the islanders who sent me tweets and messages after seeing all the action on Miller.
You can read my report and see a photo gallery of the search here.
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Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
January 7th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Meanwhile, what news, if any, on assault suspect Edward Mark Olsen … last seen on BI 5 weeks ago after he tried to torch his ex-girlfriend and her son?
January 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Pilar,
Funny you should ask. They just caught him in Arizona:
http://pugetsoundblogs.com/bainbridge-conversation/2010/01/09/attempted-murder-suspect-arrested/
-Tristan