Suspect Held, More Details Released in Latest Downtown Stabbing
You may have heard yesterday's news of downtown becoming the stabbiest neighborhood in Seattle, with two stabbings in the past week. Two! One was on Wednesday: a man bumped into another man, and then after a few steps realized he had been stabbed. The other was on Sunday, when a man, previously reported as a tourist but apparently not, was stabbed while getting off the bus. Both of these stabbings happened at Seattle's biggest shitshow: the northbound 3rd and Pike/Pine bus stops.
A suspect in the first stabbing is at large, but a suspect in the second stabbing, Alphonse Hope, is being held in King County Jail on a $250,000 bail, leaving prosecutors until Wednesday to file a formal charge.
Police say that Stabbing Victim was on the bus with six of his out-of-town family members when Hope began getting belligerent with other passengers, to the point of throwing a glass bottle at the head of a man exiting the bus and pouring beer all over the victim. When the time came for the victim to try to get off the bus, according to police, Hope blocked his way, and after the victim tried to get past several times, Hope started punching and kicking him.
The victim tried to keep his cool, police say, but after a woman (still at large) who was with Hope began punching the victim's family, that's when, police say, he started fighting back. Things naturally escalated even farther, and Hope followed the victim and his family off the bus, police say, and stabbed him at least twice.
Police later tracked down Hope at 4th and Olive. They say that he had a bloody knife on him, and that he explained that he lost a fight and was "jumped" by five people.
While Hope had no previous trouble in King County, he was wanted in 12 states.
Come on, 3rd and Pine. It's bad enough that your McDonald's* has a security guard standing outside of it at all times. The dianetics testing facility that went in doesn't even have people pushing Scientology outside of it. But congratulations, you're starting to make Belltown look fantastic.
We need to think of a name for this little sub-neighborhood of Downtown, on 3rd Avenue between Pike and Olive. Any suggestions, readers?
* Confession: I once told a stranger's child that the 3rd and Pine McDonald's is not a real McDonald's.
