MUKILTEO — State House candidate Riaz Khan, a former Mukilteo City Council member, said he was attacked early Tuesday morning in what he called a hate crime.
Around 2 a.m. Tuesday, Khan said, he was fixing campaign signs in the 1200 block of Mukilteo Speedway when two white men approached him, swore at him and struck him multiple times in the back. After turning around, Khan said the men saw the hammer in his hand and backed away. He then called the police.
Khan was “in a lot of pain” and planned go to the hospital, he said Wednesday.
“It’s unexpected, this is unbelievable,” said Khan, who is Muslim and was born in India. “This hate crime has no place in our city, nothing should happen like this.”
Officers were on the scene within a minute of the call coming in, but did not find suspects or a car after a thorough search, the Mukilteo Police Department said Thursday. Police said they were working with federal partners to conduct an investigation, which they called “time-consuming” due to the lack of witness testimony and surveillance video. The department is also investigating to determine if it was racially, religiously or politically motivated. Mukilteo Police Chief Andy Illyn said investigators will “leave no stone unturned.”
Khan served as a City Council member from 2019 to 2023. He was a lifelong Democrat before switching to the Republican Party in May when he filed to run for a state House seat in the 21st Legislative District, which covers Mukilteo and Edmonds. In the August primary, he received 27% of the vote, and advanced to next week’s general election.
Khan’s opponent in the House race, incumbent Democratic Rep. Strom Peterson, who worked with his opponent when Khan was the vice chair of the 21st District Democrats, denounced the alleged attack, calling it “very concerning and troubling.”
“We have to be vigilant and we have to make sure we’re not normalizing this behavior,” Peterson said Thursday. “I think we really need to make sure if people are willing to put their names out there and dedicate time and effort to serving the public, that we do everything we can as a community and as competing politicians to speak up against this kind of political violence.”
The Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for an investigation into the alleged attack.
“We are upset to hear of this alleged bigoted assault and urge law enforcement authorities to be swift and thorough in apprehending the individuals responsible,” the chapter’s executive director, Imraan Siddiqi, said in a press release. “Acts of violence will not intimidate American Muslims out of participating in the political process.”
In 2016, Khan faced an Islamophobic campaign after making plans to build a mosque in Mukilteo. Peter Zieve, founder of aerospace firm Electroimpact Inc., sent anonymous postcards asking residents to oppose the mosque. Flyers that said “Ban Islam from America” were also placed at the site.
The incident wouldn’t be the first racial confrontation involving a local politician in south Snohomish County, either. In 2022, a Black campaign worker for state Rep. April Berg was harassed when canvassing near Mill Creek.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
