A Seattle man has been charged with 5 counts of random assault on a sidewalk

SEATTLE (AP) — A 37-year-old Seattle man was charged Thursday with five counts of randomly attacking five people in broad daylight last week, according to prosecutors.

Roland Jerome Lee is accused of injuring five people as they stood on the sidewalk in an area of ​​about four blocks in Seattle’s Chinatown. He was charged with four counts of first-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault.

Four victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, and one victim was treated at the scene and released. One of the four male patients remains at Harborview in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said Thursday.

Lee is being held on $2 million bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 27, according to King County District Attorney Casey McNertney.

Will Casey, a spokesman for the King County Public Defender’s Department, said they are not commenting on the case at this time.

Seattle police believe Lee was also involved in at least four other stabbings in the same area a day before the five attacks. He matched the description of the suspect, and the attacks were also random like Friday’s.

“Seattle police continue to investigate other stabbings, and King County prosecutors may make additional decisions about whether to file charges if these cases are referred to our office,” McNertney said in an email.

Lee has a Washington state criminal record that includes nine convictions for auto theft, possession of stolen property, robbery and attempted burglary, according to the probable cause report.

Police were called around 2pm last Friday to reports that four people had been stabbed in Chinatown. Another victim was found about a block away, the probable cause statement said.

One witness told police he saw the suspect come up behind the man and stab him in the back. The man was hospitalized with four stab wounds. A witness said he followed the suspect as he walked down the street and then stabbed three people as they stood on the corner.

Lee also stabbed another man before stabbing the group of three, police said. The video shows him walking behind the man and stabbing him in the back. He fell to the ground with the knife still lodged in his back, police said.

Police took Lee into custody with blood visible on his hands and shoes, police said. They said they found two knives nearby.

“This incident was apparently a random attack by one individual over a 38-hour period,” Deputy Chief Eric Barden said at the scene last week.