Seattle man faces 5 assault charges in random sidewalk stabbings

[November 15, 2024]  By MARTHA BELLISLE

SEATTLE (AP) — A 37-year-old Seattle man was charged Thursday with five counts of assault in the random stabbings of five people in broad daylight last week, according to prosecutors.

Roland Jerome Lee is accused of stabbing five people as they stood on the sidewalk in a roughly four-block area in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. He faces four first-degree assault charges and one count of fourth-degree assault.

Four of the victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition and one victim was treated at the scene and released. One of the four male patients remains at Harborview and is in stable condition, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg said Thursday.

Lee is being held on a $2 million bail. He's scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 27, said King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney.

Will Casey, spokesperson for the King county Department of Public Defense, said they have no comment about the case at this stage.

Seattle police believe Lee was also involved in at least four other stabbings in the same area the day before the five assaults. He fit the descriptions of the suspect and the attacks were also random, like Friday’s assaults.

“Other stabbings remain under investigation with Seattle Police, and King County prosecutors can make additional charging decisions if those cases are referred to our office,” McNerthney said in an email.

Police officers stand near the scene as they gather security camera footage after multiple people were stabbed in the area Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in the Chinatown-International District in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Lee has a criminal history in Washington state that includes nine felony convictions for car thefts, possession of stolen property, robbery and attempted burglary, according to the probable cause report.

Police were called at about 2 p.m. last Friday on reports that four people had been stabbed in Chinatown. Another victim was found about a block away, the probable cause statement said.

One witness told police that he saw the suspect walk up behind a man and stab him in the back. That man was hospitalized with four stab wounds. The witness said he followed the suspect as he walked up the street and then stabbed three people as they stood on a corner.

Police said Lee also stabbed another man before striking the group of three. Video shows him walking behind a person and stabbing him in the back. He fell to the ground with the knife still lodged in his back, police said.

Police took Lee into custody with what appeared to be blood on his hands and shoes, police said. They said they located two knives nearby.

“This incident was apparently one individual over a 38-hour period of time committing random assaults,” Deputy Chief Eric Barden said at the scene last week.

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