ORIGINAL REPORT, WEDNESDAY NIGHT: The bail hearing for the 51-year-old man arrested after Tuesday’s Juneau Street Market robbery/attack has been postponed until tomorrow, but a judge has found probable cause to keep him in custody. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said that bail consideration was delayed because the suspect “was inappropriate for court,” without elaborating or replying to a followup. The KCPAO did provide the probable-cause documents, which are in the name of John Doe, with the police narrative noting that the man’s name was not immediately known, and he wouldn’t answer questions. Here’s what the report says happened once the suspect was in custody:
… Officers escorted three (3) witnesses to the stop location, where they positively identified this subject as the suspect they observed beating the female victim inside the market and also attempting to access the store’s cash register. It did not appear that the suspect was able to open the register. It is unknown at this time if any items were stolen from the store in this incident. This suspect, at this time referred to as John DOE, was arrested based on probable cause. Officers recovered a pair of handcuffs and a knife with a broken blade in possession of this suspect at the time of arrest; search incident to arrest. DOE was holding the handcuffs at the time and the broken knife was in his pants pocket. DOE was transported to the South Precinct, then Robbery Office, then booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery and Assault.
The document says the 71-year-old victim talked with a Robbery Unit detective at the hospital, telling him the attacker had come into the store and started beating her, with handcuffs held in his fist, without saying anything. She tried to escape and the attacker dragged her back inside and kept hitting her. Police say the attacker is shown on video trying to get into the register before leaving.
At some point before he was booked into jail last night, police matched a name to the suspect (the report notes there was no fingerprint match but doesn’t say what eventually led them to a name). Court records matched to that name show only one prior local arrest, for assault, 32 years ago. The suspect is due back in court tomorrow.
ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: The suspect was again “inappropriate for court,” as the KCPAO put it, explaining to us today that the phrase often indicates a mental-health issue. Bail and charging are now scheduled to be addressed tomorrow (Friday).
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