Judge sets bail at $2 million for Seattle hatchet attack suspect

A King County judge has set bail at $2 million for the 50-year-old man accused of slashing another man in the neck with a hatchet on Sunday.

The man, who KIRO Newsradio will not name until he is formally charged, skipped what would have been his first court appearance on Monday afternoon. Prosecutors said his attorney showed up instead.

Court documents state that the attack happened in broad daylight at Cambridge Apartments, a low-income housing complex on Union Street just across I-5 from the Seattle Convention Center. Police responded to reports of an assault around 2:37 p.m.

According to one of the Seattle police officers investigating the case, the man and the victim are friends. He “was upset” and grabbed his friend’s arm before cutting his neck, the officer wrote.

Police found the victim with a large cut “through which I could visibly see muscle tissue,” the officer wrote in the report. Medics rushed him to Harborview Medical Center, where his injuries were last reported as “life-threatening.”

Police called for backup, according to the documents, and officers arrested the suspect in his apartment. They reportedly found a hatchet under his mattress.

It’s not clear what happened leading up to the suspect becoming “upset,” as the officer wrote.

He had no other active warrants for his arrest by the time officers took him into custody, but prosecutors successfully pushed for the $2 million bail. The judge agreed. At the time of publication, he is being held in King County Jail awaiting trial.

Formal charges are expected to be filed by Wednesday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

A spokesperson with Harborview Medical Center told KIRO Newsradio the victim has since been discharged from the hospital.

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