By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Event parking scam:

On Sunday, May 19, a woman in her 30s drove to the University District to attend the annual University StreetFair. She saw a sign on University Way, close to the festivities, advertising "Event Parking $5."

The woman only had $4 with her at the time, but the parking lot "attendant," a man who appeared to be in his 30s or 40s, kindly accepted her promise to return later with the extra dollar.

As it turned out, he wasn't quite as nice as he had seemed. The woman walked by the lot a few hours later only to find the sign gone and her car in the process of being towed. She contacted a restaurant adjacent to the lot where employees told her that the man she had paid was not authorized to allow others to use the lot - in fact he was just a regular customer of several nearby eateries and watering holes. They said they had observed him running his impromptu parking lot scam twice during StreetFair weekend and told him to leave. They also said they called to have all unauthorized vehicles towed.

Witness to a mail theft:

On Monday, May 20 at about 1:45 p.m., a Haller Lake woman looked out of a window in her home to see a young man - possibly in his 20s - drive up to her street-side mailbox in a vehicle not marked as belonging to the Postal Service and remove all of her out-going mail. The woman went out to confront him but he drove off before she could do so. Unfortunately, on that particular day the woman's box had contained several bill payments with personal checks.

Revenge of the tailgating 'victim':

On Sunday, May 19 at approximately 9:49 p.m., a woman in her 20s was heading west through Ballard on N. 55th Street. She found herself directly behind a blue Toyota truck which she acknowledged later to officers that she was following closely.

The truck's driver, a man who appeared to be in his 30s, pulled over and allowed the woman to pass. However, after she did so, he started to tailgate her. The woman told police that when she stopped at a stop sign, the man intentionally ran into her. Then he backed up and rammed her again.

The woman got out of her car and confronted the suspect, asking him what he was doing.

"You shouldn't tailgate," the man said calmly, before driving off, into the night.

Gun scare on Aurora:

On Monday, May 20, a 20-something woman from Kirkland was traveling through Seattle via Aurora Ave N. While stopped at a light at W. Green Lake Drive N., she looked in her rear-view mirror to see that the driver behind her appeared to be pointing a gun at her. The driver was a man who looked to be in his 20s. He was behind the wheel of a forest green Saab with a temporary license in the window. The woman said the man appeared to be singing as he pointed the gun.

Fortunately, the light turned green and the man turned east while the woman continued her journey heading south. A search of the area failed to turn up the car or the gun-wielding driver.

More criminal wackiness

At approximately 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, customers at the drive-through window of an Aurora fast food restaurant told employees that there was a man behind the building, near the dumpsters. One of the employees went out and found the suspect, a 30-year-old man, who was apparently in the area for no good reason. The employee told the man to leave. The suspect responded by going over to the drive-through and yelling at an Auburn couple who were being served at the window for tattling on him. He drove home his point by pounding twice on the front window of the customers' car.

The suspect was told to leave but steadfastly refused, even making a point of checking the customers' license plate number. Eventually, employees had to call the police who took the suspect into custody. On his person were found three prescription narcotics capsules.

Double trouble:

At 11 a.m. on May 20, a woman returned to her Northeast Seattle apartment to discover that one of the windows of her residence had a newly cut small square hole. The damage was estimated at $200 but what also concerned the woman was the possible relationship to an earlier incident.

It seems that on May 16, the woman had been driving in the area of N. 185th Street and Aurora in Shoreline when something hit and shattered the glass of the rear driver-side window of her car. The woman promptly took her vehicle to the repair shop where she was informed that the damage was most likely caused by a BB gun pellet. The woman wondered if the two incidents were related but didn't have any particular suspects in mind.