Deputies identify victim stabbed on King County Metro bus last year

UPDATE:

SEATTLE - Several weeks after this story aired, King County Sheriff's detectives say the victim was identified by people at the Mt. Baker Transit Center.

"Eventually, our deputies ended up just wandering around the area speaking to people locally asking if they knew him, eventually we were able to find information, get at least a name. Finally, after a few weeks of just searching and waiting, we were able to finally find the victim and speak to him and it was a successful conversation," said Zoe Birkbeck with the King County Sheriff's Office.

The suspect, Elijah Pearson, is in custody undergoing an evaluation at Western State Hospital to determine his competency to stand trial.

Deputies looking to identify King County Metro stabbing victim

King County Sheriff's Deputies are looking to speak to the victim so felony charges can stick to the suspect arrested in the stabbing

The King County Sheriff's Office is looking to identify the victim of a stabbing on a Metro bus last year.

Surveillance video from the bus shows two men board a bus on the 7-line in Seattle on June 15, 2021. The first man with a noticeable limp in his left leg goes to the middle of the bus and the other goes to the back. The two then ended up getting into an argument.

At one point, the suspect wearing a black hat with a red bill appears to be reaching for something under his sweatshirt, retreats, then comes back and punches the victim. He then exits the bus from the back and enters back again through the front door.

That's when he pulls out a nine-inch knife and starts stabbing the victim.

Surveillance footage from the bus shows passengers scrambling to get away from the chaos and one woman screaming "he's stabbing him!"

The bus stops on S. Walker Street and the victim gets out. Detectives say the victim didn't stick around and call for help.

Detectives also say the victim used his arms to defend himself, taking the cuts to his forearms rather than his vital organs.

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Photo of victim

They are looking to identify the victim to get felony assault charges to stick for the 28-year-old suspect, who is in King County Jail. Detectives don't even know the victim's name, and they even asked the state crime lab to test his blood against the CODIS database, but the request was denied due to privacy concerns.

"We want him to know that we want to bring him the justice that he so much deserves, but we are going to need his help to do that," said Capt. Tim Meyer with the King County Sheriff's Office. "We want to make Metro the safest system we can."

If you have any information on the identity of the victim, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.

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