Police on Friday arrested a man accused of stabbing five people on a downtown Seattle street. Authorities suspect five more stabbings in the same area since Thursday morning, according to police reports.
“This incident was apparently a random attack by one person over a 38-hour period,” Deputy Chief Eric Barden said at the scene Friday.
Burden told reporters at the scene that the unknown assailant appeared to be targeting the victims randomly, except that one person’s mobile phone was stolen.
The violent attacks took place Friday afternoon in a concentrated area spanning about four blocks of Seattle. Chinatown-International District.
After receiving a witness description of the perpetrator, law enforcement officials located and arrested the suspect near the scene.
In each case there was one victim, nine out of ten were male, Barden said. He continued that the severity of the injuries varied from superficial cuts to critical stab wounds, requiring hospital treatment for Friday’s death.
“This is a terrible tragedy, a mass casualty incident,” Barden added.
Arresting officers found a weapon near the suspect, while another knife was found on the body of one of the victims.
Several victims provided visual confirmation of the suspect’s identity after his detention, Burden reported.
In the United States, indiscriminate stabbings are less common than mass shootings.
(TagsToTranslate)Suspect Arrested