EVERETT — A man in an apparent mental health crisis was arrested for investigation of stabbing his 62-year-old housemate multiple times in an unprovoked attack, according to Everett police reports filed in court Thursday.
Police found the alleged attacker, 21, after a four-hour manhunt east of Glenwood Avenue.
The man had been committed for mental issues for at least 30 days in the past year, and his father told police that he “had difficulty separating reality from fantasy,” court papers say.
Just before 10 p.m. Wednesday, a neighbor on Bedrock Drive reported someone banging on the door, yelling for help and bleeding profusely.
An ambulance took the injured man to Providence Regional Medical Center where he was treated for life-threatening injuries. At least fifteen “defects” in the front of the man’s shirt suggested he’d been stabbed or slashed many times by the knife, police wrote.
Everett police learned the young man wanted to be taken to the store around 9 p.m., and when the request was declined, he left for a walk. Once he returned, he grabbed a kitchen knife, approached the housemate and stabbed him repeatedly, according to the account of a witness — the suspect’s father — in court papers. The father tackled the son to stop the assault, according to the report.
Officers eventually tracked down the suspect around 1:40 a.m. about 1,000 feet away from the house, as the crow flies, off 60th Place SE. Police noted the man had scratches on his arms and hands, apparently from thorny bushes, as well as blood on his sweatpants. He reportedly told police he’d been diagnosed with psychosis that made him feel disconnected from reality.
According to police, he was reluctant to talk, but reported to an Everett detective he’d been “jumped” by somebody while walking home, and eventually he invoked his right to remain silent.
Everett officers arrested the man for investigation of first-degree domestic violence assault. The suspect and the injured man had been living at the home together since January.
Court records suggest the man had no felony record in Washington state.
The defendant declined to be present in a courtroom Thursday.
Everett District Court Judge Jeffery Goodwin found probable cause for the charge and set bail at $250,000.
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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