A suspect is now in custody, after two Montana firefighters were robbed of their pickup truck and $30,000 worth of firefighting equipment while in Seattle for a charity event.
Seeley Lake (Montana) Fire Captain Shawn Ellinghouse posted this update Monday morning:
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE as of Thursday evening March 12, 2015
The Montana couple who was robbed of their pickup truck and $30,000 worth of firefighting equipment while attending a charity event in Seattle now says their pickup and the firefighting equipment has been located.
Kristy Lee posted this update to her Facebook page Thursday evening:
Blessings and prayers for a bittersweet phone call. Truck has been found and fire gear recovered, as for the rest…. news is not nearly as good. Personal items seem to have disappeared and racked up debt! But all is manageable at this point. Stress and anxiety will remain…Thank you all who have stood beside us and supported us throughout this! Thank you for those who continue to stand by us as we trudge forward through this ordeal… now to get it/her home, do an official inventory, and inspect the damage.
We’re still awaiting more information, but Kristy Lee told me Thursday evening that they believe all of the media attention focusing on the story may have led the thieves to ditch the “hot” vehicle.
INITIAL POST
Montana Firefighters’ Truck, Gear Stolen in Seattle
1,311 steps. 50 pounds of gear. 1 great cause. That’s what a husband-wife firefighting team from Montana was training for in Seattle, Washington.
Their reward? Their pickup truck and firefighting equipment stolen by thieves in Seattle.
Photo of stolen pickup courtesy of Shawn Ellinghouse
Seeley Lake Fire Captain Shawn Ellinghouse and his wife Kristy Lee, a firefighter and teacher at the Potomac School, were in Seattle for the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society when this happened: Firefighters in town for charity event lose truck, $30k in gear to thieves
On Monday morning, they woke to find their 2007 Toyota Tundra stolen from the secured hotel parking garage.
“It was a gated parking garage,” Ellinghouse said. “We don’t know how they got in.”
Inside the truck was as much as $30,000 worth of firefighting gear and personal effects, Ellinghouse said, including two sets of air bottles, suits, pillows and masks.
That’s the story from Q13 Fox News in Seattle. Kristy and Shawn are now back home in Montana, after being forced to drive back to Montana in a rental car. As of Tuesday morning, Shawn was scrambling to get work done and return a rental vehicle, while Kristy was headed back to work at Potomac School.
If you have any friends in the Seattle area, please help spread the word and post photos of this pickup with Montana firefghter license plates.
Q13 added this description: Ellinghouse’s truck is a blue 2007 Toyota Tundra with Montana Licence Plate AJT-754.
Screenshot of Kristy Lee’s Facebook profile Tuesday morning, shared with permission.
(H/T- Thanks to Whitney Klasna for sharing the news)