Police: 'Out of control' man with sword terrorizes condo residents

By KOMO Staff Published: Sep 6, 2012 at 7:09 AM PDT Last Updated: Sep 6, 2012 at 5:37 PM PDT
Police: 'Out of control' man with sword terrorizes condo residents »Play Video
The man cut this door sign with a sword while swing a slashing at doors and walls in this hallway of the apartment complex.
SEATTLE - Residents of a Seattle apartment complex were terrorized overnight by an "out of control" man swinging and slashing with a large samurai-style sword, police said.

Officers responded to the scene, an apartment building in the 3200 block of Harbor Avenue SW, at about 2:35 a.m. Thursday and discovered that the same man had already been arrested twice before in the previous 24 hours for other bizarre disturbances, said Seattle police spokesman Detective Jeff Kappel.

The man was arrested after being stunned with a Taser at least three times, then wrestled to the ground. He then went motionless and stopped breathing and was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, where he is listed in critical condition.

The entire extraordinary series of events actually began a day earlier, at about 2:40 a.m. Wednesday, when officers responded to a 911 call at a 7-Eleven convenience store at 35th Avenue SW and SW Avalon Street for a disturbance involving a man tearing up the inside of the store.

Officers arrived on scene and encountered a man who was in a highly excited state. He was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for treatment. The store was closed down for four to six hours in order to clean up the mess created by the man inside the store.

Then, at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the same man's apartment in the 3200 block of Harbor Avenue SW after the man called 911 to report two people under his bed trying to get him.

Officers recognized the man from the previous property damage call at the 7-Eleven and involuntarily committed him for a mental health evaluation at a hospital, Kappel said.

Then, again, at about 2:35 a.m. Thursday officers responded back to the same man's apartment building to investigate after the same man called 911 and said something about killing a man on Harbor Avenue SW.

At about the same time, another person also called 911 to report a man believed to be high on drugs hitting doors and walls of residents' apartments with what she thought a golf club.

When officers responded, they found the same man as the previous two calls on the first floor of the apartment complex. He was carrying a large sword, not a golf club, and had slashed and damaged several apartment doors and the hallway with the sword.

"He had his big sword and came through here all up and down, from way down at the far side of the hallway, just swinging his sword back and forth," said Joseph Thomas, who lives in the building.

The man appeared to be highly excited and "out of control" mentally, Kappel said. Officers ordered him to drop the sword several times, but the man ignored the officers' commands and began moving toward the officers.

He was stunned with a Taser, but he remained standing and tried to rip the Taser wires and prongs out of his body, police said. Then a second officer stunned him with her Taser.

The man successfully removed the second officer's Taser wires and prongs, prompting the second officer to fire her Taser a second time. The man continued to resist and tried to rip the Taser wires and prongs out of his body.

At some point in the altercation officers were able to get the sword away from the man, but he continued to swing his fists at the officers. The man eventually went down and was motionless.

Medics were called to the scene and officers immediately began CPR on the man. The suspect, a man in his 30s, was then transported to Harborview Medical Center, where he is listed in critical condition.