Cell phones seem to be a popular thing to steal in Covington in recent weeks.

Between May 7 and May 15, there were four incidents reported to the King County Sheriff’s Office during which cell phones were stolen from teens in a variety of settings.

According to case reports provided by Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West, the first incident happened the evening of May 7.

An 18-year-old man was walking to his car after spending time studying at the Covington Library “when a purple or burgundy colored mini van (unknown make or license plate) followed him slowly as he walked. A Hispanic male and a black male ran up behind him as he was getting into his vehicle. The Hispanic male pulled out a handgun, pointed it at him and said ‘Give me your phone now or else I will shoot.’”

The man gave up his iPhone, according to the police report, and the suspects ran off and jumped into the van. The victim described the driver of the van as a black man in his late teens or early 20s and that a teenage girl appeared to be in the van, too.

There were two additional incidents May 15 about an hour apart.

Around 3:30 p.m., a 14-year-old girl was walking home from school with friends, but was stopped by a white man near the intersection of Southeast 270th Place and 192nd Avenue Southeast. The man distracted the victim then stole her iPhone out of her hand and fled. The suspect jumped into the driver’s seat of a maroon Nissan coupe.

A 13-year-old boy was walking home from Tamarack Ridge Park around 4:40 that same afternoon and was approached by a white man who asked to use his cell phone near the intersection of Southeast 251st and 164th Avenue Southeast. The teen handed the man his cell phone. The suspect then took off running and got into the driver’s seat of an older red Acura two-door car parked nearby. The suspect was described as in his late teens, between 150 and 160 pounds with spiked, light brown hair, wearing a red T-shirt and dark blue jeans in addition to a silver ring on his right pointer finger.

The fourth incident happened around 3:45 p.m. May 17. According to the reporter, a group of teens were hanging out at a park near Southeast 250th Place and 161st Place Southeast when they were approached by three young men who appeared to be between 18 and 20 years old. One of the suspects asked if he could borrow a cell phone to call his mom but one of the teens in the group said, “No, I know you’re going to steal it.”

After this, there was an exchange of words between the two groups, and the suspects walked away but then, “the suspect who had asked for the phone turned around, displayed a switchblade, started walking towards the kids and said, “What did you say?”

A member of the group of younger teens told the suspect he didn’t say anything, then the group of older teens got into a tan Toyota Camry four door sedan and left.