A 37-year-old Seattle man has been charged with five counts of assault in connection with the random stabbings of five individuals in broad daylight last week. The suspect, Roland Jerome Lee, is accused of stabbing the victims as they stood on the sidewalk in a four-block area in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District.
Four of the victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, while one victim was treated at the scene and released. Currently, one male patient remains at Harborview in stable condition.
Lee is facing four first-degree assault charges and one count of fourth-degree assault. He is being held on a $2 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on November 27.
Seattle police believe Lee may have been involved in at least four other stabbings in the same area the day before the five assaults. The attacks were described as random, similar to the incidents that occurred on Friday.
According to the probable cause report, Lee has a criminal history in Washington state that includes nine felony convictions for various offenses such as car thefts, possession of stolen property, robbery, and attempted burglary.
Police were alerted to the stabbings around 2 p.m. last Friday, with witnesses reporting multiple victims in Chinatown. One witness described seeing the suspect stab a man in the back before proceeding to stab three more individuals on a street corner.
Video footage captured Lee walking behind a person and stabbing them in the back, causing the victim to fall to the ground with the knife still lodged in their back. Upon apprehending Lee, police observed what appeared to be blood on his hands and shoes, and recovered two knives nearby.
Deputy Chief Eric Barden stated that the incident involved one individual committing random assaults over a 38-hour period. The case remains under investigation, and additional charging decisions may be made by King County prosecutors if more cases are referred to their office.
