Prosecutors charge suspect in ax attack in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood

SEATTLE — King County prosecutors have charged a 43-year-old man who is suspected of attacking another man at an encampment with an ax, a board and a pole in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood Friday.

Julian Brassea-Caballero is being charged with second-degree assault, according to charging documents.

At around 3:35 a.m., officers were called to a report of an attack at an encampment in the area of Third Avenue South and South Walker Street but was originally reported to have occurred in the 1900 block of Fourth Avenue South.

Police arrived to find a man bleeding from his face and head.

Police said the victim was holding his head and was using a bloody paper plate to cover his head.

Officers spoke with the victim and witnesses, who said the man had barged into the victim’s tent. Shortly after, the man attacked the victim, according to a Seattle Police Department blotter post.

The victim told police he was sleeping when Brassea-Caballero tore off the front door to his tent and said “‘where’s my (expletive)!,” according to court records.

Police said the victim told them he did not know whom Brassea-Caballero was referring to, but pulled back a cover showing that no one was in his tent.

The victim told police that Brassea-Caballero had a blue hammer in his right hand, then left his tent but returned minutes later with an ax in his hand. The victim reportedly talked with others before the suspect returned, and was told Brassea-Caballero had been acting out of control earlier that day.

As Brassea-Caballero stood there with an ax, the victim said he got out of the tent and the suspect told him “‘This time I’m going to kill you, you’re lying to me,’” according to court papers. Brassea-Caballero then struck the victim in the head with the ax.

The victim told police as he tried to escape, Brassea-Caballero then struck him in his left leg with a piece of plywood, then used a pole to hit him in the left arm and chased the victim, saying “‘I’m going to take you out.”

The injured victim ran to a nearby gas station, where a bystander called 911. The victim was taken by medics to Harborview Medical Center with injuries not considered life-threatening.

Officers searched the area for Brassea-Caballero and found him nearby. He was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault.

On Saturday, King County prosecutors asked a judge to hold the suspect in jail on $150,000 bail, arguing he was a danger to the community and not likely to return to court if released. The judge agreed.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said it had filed two previous cases against the suspect, one in 2019 that ended in a conviction for assault and one in 2000.

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