Man charged with two random, brutal attacks in Seattle's Chinatown-International District

County prosecutors: data shows rise in hate crimes

King County prosecutors say data shows a rise in hate crimes in King County. Q13's Alyana Gomez reports.

SEATTLE - A 41-year-old man has been charged with a random attack that sent two people to the hospital in Seattle's Chinatown-International District.

According to court documents, the first victim parked in the neighborhood about 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 25. and walked to a corner to meet her boyfriend. As the couple walked back toward her vehicle, police say 41-year-old Sean Holdip approached the woman and repeatedly hit her in the face with a rock-filled sock.

The victim fell in the middle of the road, and that's when Holdip reportedly turned his attention to her boyfriend, who was also struck multiple times.

The woman suffered a concussion, three fractures on her face, four broken teeth and other lacerations. Her boyfriend also suffered a concussion and had to get eight stitches for lacerations on his head.

"Both victims reported nausea and severe headaches as a result of the impact to their heads," police reports say.

Holdip ran away from the scene. He was arrested nine days later and is being held on a $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors said Monday they rush-filed two charges of Assault in the Second Degree. One of the counts is being charged as aggravated. A judge set Holdip's next court date for March 22.

The attack appears to be random, prosecutors say, but it comes at a time when Seattle Police are investigating an uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes in Seattle.

In 2020, police received 14 reports of Anti-Asian hate crimes, up from 9 the previous year and 6 in 2018.

Seattle Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz addressed the issue in a video posted to the department's YouTube channel: