ARLINGTON People who claim to be part of a Marysville gang called it a “beat down.”
A man was kicked, punched, stomped on and stabbed as he tried to help a younger friend escape from a large group of people who were pummeling him at an Arlington party.
The stabbing victim in the July 17 incident lost consciousness as his friends dragged him to safety, according to a police affidavit filed Monday in Everett District Court.
“This happens somewhere in the county every weekend,” said Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Steve Haley.
During a month-long investigation sheriff’s deputies learned that the primary suspects were part of a gang. The gang reportedly derives its name from a street and neighborhood in Marysville, court records show.
Local police are seeing a rise in gang activity in Snohomish County. A spike in gangs in suburban areas is a nationwide trend. Haley has identified hundreds of people with ties to gangs in every city in the county.
Sheriff’s deputies have been working with city police departments this summer to gather information about gang members, their associates and their territories.
Jake James Sigurdson, 18, of Marysville and two juveniles were arrested last week in connection with the gang-related assaults in Arlington.
Sigurdson was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree assault and rioting with a deadly weapon. He appeared Monday in court, where bail was set at $15,000. Two boys were booked on similar charges in the Denney Juvenile Justice Center.
The Herald typically doesn’t name juveniles in criminal cases.
Prosecutors have until today to file charges against Sigurdson.
Young people from Marysville, Arlington and Lake Stevens were at a party in the 6400 block of Dike Road in Arlington when a fight broke out between an Arlington teen and multiple members of a gang, police wrote. The boy’s friend intervened when he noticed that his friend was outnumbered.
The crowd of about 10 to 15 people turned on him. He was punched, kicked and stomped on. It was during this time that someone in the crowd stabbed him in the back, police wrote.
His friends rushed him to the hospital once they realized he’d been stabbed.
Investigators believe it was Sigurdson who stabbed the man, according to court records.
Witnesses told police that Sigurdson had been waving a knife around and told one of his friends he was going to cut someone “if he was messed with during the evening,” according to court records.
Witnesses also said they were reluctant to talk for fear of retaliation, police reported.
They said Sigurdson had coached some of them about what to say to police and told others to say nothing, police wrote.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com
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