Suspect charged in Chinatown International District stabbings

SEATTLE – King County prosecutors charged a 37-year-old man with four counts of first-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault Thursday, nearly a week after a series of random stabbings in Seattle’s Chinatown International District ended when police arrested him at gunpoint with the help of witnesses.

The charges filed against Roland Jerome Lee detail five stabbings that happened in quick succession just before 2 p.m. on Nov. 8 along South Jackson Street, between 10th Avenue South and 12th Avenue South. All five victims were men, and four of them were taken to Harborview Medical Center, where at least two required surgery.

Lee remains a suspect in four other stabbings that occurred between early Nov. 7 and early Nov. 8, also in the Chinatown International District. Seattle police detectives are still investigating those stabbings, and the cases have yet to be referred to prosecutors for a charging decision.

Lee, who has nine prior felony convictions for crimes including attempted robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and possession of stolen property, remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail. He was last released from jail in July, after serving a nearly yearlong sentence on a theft charge that had been downgraded from robbery because prosecutors were unable to contact the victim, charging papers say.

During his first court appearance last weekend, a defense attorney told the court that before his most recent arrest, Lee was living with his uncle in Federal Way, Washington, does landscaping work and was born and raised in Seattle. His last known address included in charging documents, however, is for a social-service provider in Pioneer Square that offers free mail service to low-income people and people experiencing homelessness.

“The defendant has made it abundantly clear – based on this horrifying, unprovoked and random stabbing spree as well as his extensive criminal history – that he poses an extreme danger to the community,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Ian Michels-Sletvett wrote in charging papers.

Based on witness statements, video surveillance footage and interviews with victims, the charges describe Lee’s movements on the afternoon of Nov. 8. The first victim was stabbed four times in the back at the north end of 10th Avenue South, the charges say. Lee allegedly then ran up behind the second victim on South Jackson Street, stabbing him once in the back, and went on to attack three other men at the corner of 12th and Jackson.

One man at 12th and Jackson was stabbed in the neck, another was stabbed three times in the back and the third suffered a cut to his nose, charging papers say.

A witness who saw the first victim get stabbed followed Lee as he made his way east on Jackson, the charges say. While he didn’t see the second stabbing, the man witnessed the assaults on the southwest corner of 12th and Jackson and was among the bystanders who followed Lee as he ran back west on Jackson before his arrest, according to the charges. He confirmed for officers that Lee was the man he saw stab several people, the charges say.

Police also found a broken knife handle and a folding knife, both with blood on them, in a parking lot close to where Lee was arrested, according to the charges.

The first of the five victims, who was interviewed at Harborview, told detectives he was north of 10th Avenue South and South Jackson when he saw a man crouching nearby, the charges say. The man approached him and while they were standing face-to-face, he made “a hugging motion” and, with downward swings, struck the victim twice in the back, according to the charges.

The victim, who suffered four stab wounds to the back, realized the man had a knife in each hand, the charges say. One of the wounds punctured the victim’s lung. The victim watched his assailant walk south on 10th Avenue and onto Jackson Street, where he saw the man stab a second victim, say charging papers.

Minutes later, the first stabbing victim saw his assailant run back toward him and thought he was going to be stabbed again – but instead watched as police took the man into custody, according to the charges.

The second victim, who was also interviewed at Harborview, said he was standing on Jackson, talking to a friend, when he “suddenly felt a hard hit in the back,” then sharp pain in his stomach and leg as he fell to the ground, the charges say. As his friend yelled out to bystanders, the victim told police he only saw the soles of his assailant’s shoes before he blacked out with a broken knife blade embedded in his spinal cord, according to charging papers.

He told detectives he is experiencing numbness in his left leg and can’t walk without the help of a walker. Doctors are waiting to see if the damage heals with time or if the man will need further treatment, the charges say.

The knife blade that was removed from the man’s back was turned over to police as evidence.

Lee is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 27.