Neighbors on NW 74th Street between 3rd and 6th avenues say a man who had been suspected of slashing car tires and stealing security signs from people’s yards escalated to assault around 4 p.m. today when he stabbed two men who confronted him.
Summer Stinson said her husband, Simon Ravona, heard a neighbor yelling “Drop the knife, drop the knife” down the street and ran to help him as he confronted the suspect. The suspect then slashed at both men, causing superficial wounds. Stinson said her husband was cut on his torso near his ribs. She wasn’t sure where the other man’s wounds were. Paramedics on scene checked out the men’s wounds, before they were transported to NW Hospital. Stinson said they wanted both victims to be evaluated for anything potentially more serious, but she says they should be fine. She says both men were standing up and talking to first responders.
“This is a failure of the mental health system,” Stinson said of the man who she says has caused trouble on their street for years.
The handcuffed suspect was later seen sitting on a retaining wall in front of a neighbor’s home, surrounded by police. (Note: We don’t identify suspects by name or face until they’ve been charged.)
Neighbor Izzy Wong, who lives about a block away from the suspect’s home, which has tinfoil covering the front windows, said she recently filed a police report after several signs were stolen out of her yard. The man became a suspect because other neighbors had seem him walking around with similar signs. She said another neighbor had recently filed a restraining order against the suspect.
NW 74th Street was blocked off between 3rd and 6th avenues, with more police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances parked along 6th Avenue and 3rd Avenue. Several police officers were seen with high-powered rifles.
Update: 7:30 p.m.: Stinson says both men are out of the hospital. She says the doctors say her husband was extremely lucky, as the knife deflected off his rib, and that if it had been in a slightly different place it would have hit his lung.
Update Monday 9 a.m.: KIRO 7 had a story last night (we gave them permission to use our photos with credit) with an interview with the second victim.
