Chinatown-International District mass stabbing suspect charged with 5 counts of assault

The man accused of a mass stabbing in the Chinatown-International District (CID) last week has been charged with five counts of assault.

According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) Thursday, Roland Jerome Lee has been charged with four counts of assault in the first degree and one count of assault in the fourth degree.

KCPAO stated police referred five charges to prosecutors and the other stabbings are under investigation with the Seattle Police Department (SPD). If those cases are referred to KCPAO, prosecutors will be able to make additional charging decisions. KCPAO spokesperson Casey McNerthney said on Saturday police are investigating whether the suspect stabbed four other people, which would bring the total number of victims to nine.

McNerthney said, on Saturday, prosecutors asked a judge to hold the suspect in jail on $2 million bail and the judge granted that request. The judge maintained the bail amount after the filing of the five assault charges on Thursday.

“When we went to court it was the first opportunity that we had to say this person has got to stay held in the King County Jail and we argued there was a very serious danger to the public and he needs to be held,” McNerthney said. “His defense wanted a lower amount but the court said ‘yes’ $2 million is appropriate, so he’s in the King County Jail now.”

Police documents stated the suspect was initially uncooperative and refused to give police his name. The documents also said the suspect has nine prior felony convictions in Washington, including convictions for theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property, attempted burglary and robbery. Police said he also has 20 gross misdemeanor convictions.

Previous coverage: New info about suspect accused in series of Seattle stabbings revealed

Is mass stabbing being pursued as a hate crime?

There is a question of whether the alleged attacker’s motivation was based on racism or if the stabbings should be considered a possible hate crime.

According to court documents, the suspect is Black and all five of the victims who were stabbed Friday are white. Investigators heard him utter the phrase “Black Power” during an interview SPD recorded. However, KCPAO noted, “The statement was made after more than two and a half hours of being detained while the defendant was expressing frustrations about SPD and it was not said in the context that suggested that the victims’ race was a motivation for the assaults.”

Under Washington law, prosecutors can charge a hate crime when it is clear at the time of charging that race or another protected factor is a motivation for the attack, McNerthney also stated.

“A hateful or biased comment may be said during part of an investigation, but that alone is not enough to prove what’s required under the strict law requirements,” McNerthney’s statement reads. “Simply put, what may feel like a hate crime can be very different than what state law defines as a hate crime or what can be proven as a hate crime, and the difference in those scenarios can understandably feel unfair.”

Officer responds to gruesome scene: ‘He had many, many stab wounds in his back’

On Wednesday, a Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer who was first on the scene at last Friday’s mass stabbing in the Chinatown-International District (CID) spoke to KIRO Newsradio.

SPD Sergeant David Sullivan, an 18-year veteran, was sitting near the intersection of South Jackson Street and 12th Avenue South when he noticed what he thought was a fistfight. When he got closer it became obvious it was much more.

“As I’m rolling up, I’m hearing people screaming, he’s stabbing people, he’s stabbing people,” Sullivan told KIRO Newsradio. “That was sort of my first clue that this was more than just a fist fight.”

Bystanders began leading Sullivan to the suspect, who, after allegedly stabbing five innocent people, was trying to flee the area.

Sullivan pursued the suspect, first in his squad car, then on foot. At one point, Sullivan said he saw the suspect drop to his knees behind a dumpster, then he got up and continued to run. Soon after, other officers arrived at the scene and took the 37-year-old suspect into custody.

“They took over contact with the suspect and took him into custody there,” Sullivan said. “I could see the suspect did have blood all over his hands at the time.”

Following the arrest, Sullivan added he wanted to go back and check to see what the suspect did while he was behind the dumpster.

“I retraced my steps and ultimately found two knives that had been discarded,” he said. “They were both folding knives one of which was open and covered with blood.”

With the scene secure, the suspect in custody and the area flooded with patrol cars, officers were then able to focus on the people who were injured. SPD didn’t know at the time that five people had been stabbed, some of them multiple times.

The alleged stabbings happened over 38 hours from Thursday to Friday when police arrested the suspect at 4:09 p.m. in the 300 block of 10th Avenue South. According to police documents, a witness watched the suspect stab one victim four times in his back and then walk casually down 10th Avenue before he stabbed another three victims who were standing on the southwest corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street. One of the victims, according to police, suffered a laceration across his nose, while another was stabbed in the neck.

“When I looked back, what I saw was a young person, I believed him to be a younger man,” Sullivan said. “He was on his hands and knees because he had many, many stab wounds in his back.”

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Sullivan: ‘Officers have to look at terrible things all the time’

Sullivan said he’s seen a lot over his 18 years with SPD. He said it never gets any easier and that it’s just an unfortunate part of policing in a big city.

“Police officers have to look at terrible things all the time, so this was just another one of those terrible things that we look at,” he shared. “It’s horrible but it’s an everyday experience for officers. Honestly, it really is.”

Sullivan said problems in the CID are complicated, with no easy solutions. In the meantime, he said, everyone in the neighborhood is suffering.

“Suffering is kind of universal,” he said. “It’s the people that are out there, on the corner, on the street who are suffering. It’s the merchants that are suffering. We can certainly bring policing to it. That’s part of the puzzle, part of the fix, but if we’re successful at that, it just moves the problem from one neighborhood to another.”

Lee’s next court appearance is November 27 at 8:30 a.m. in the King County Courthouse.

Editors note: This story was originally published on November 13, 2024, at 6:40 p.m. It has been updated and republished since then.

Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio; Luke Duecy, KIRO Newsradio; Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest; Steve Coogan, MyNorthwest