SEATTLE — The 63-year-old woman who survived an attacker armed with a hammer is speaking out as police have not arrested a suspect.
The incident happened at the Beacon Hill station last Thursday shortly before 4 p.m. when a man allegedly struck two people with a hammer before escaping.
Elvia Salas Buenrostoro was on the receiving end of the attack and said she got a concussion and three broken ribs.
“I did not expect him to have a reaction like that,” she said a week after she was attacked.
She believes the man who threatened to kill her is a lost soul and says she sees many like him on public transit.
“I feel very sorry for the state he was in. If this happened to another person, I’d say punish the attacker. No, I don’t have that in my heart because I think that he - I don’t know who he is who he might be - but I think that he has something very big in his mind, or in his heart that made him do this,” Salas Buenrostoro said in Spanish.
Salas Buenrostoro spent three decades cleaning houses and moved here from Mexico. She said that another man in a wheelchair, Doug Krogel, tried to stop her attacker. That man was also hit and sent to the hospital. Both are now out of the hospital and recovering at home.
Doug Krogel took the light rail at Beacon Hill station almost daily on his way home from chemotherapy treatments at the Veteran’s Hospital.
That’s what he was doing last Thursday when he was brutally attacked by a man with a hammer.
The Air Force veteran is battling lung cancer and last Thursday afternoon would hear from a doctor he narrowly survived the attack.
“He said anything a little closer to the center of the skull it would have probably gone through. I got really lucky,” Doug Krogel said.
Doug and his wife Betty said they saw a woman being attacked and jumped in to help. Once the woman was able to get away Doug said he became the next target.
“I glanced back just for a second to see where the ladies were at and he clobbered me. He was a lot faster than I thought he was,” Krogel said.
His wife Betty said the man also hit her in the face and torso with a heavy white bag he was carrying, but the sight of her husband being hit is something she’ll never forget.
“To see your loved one knocked down like that with blood on his face not knowing if he’s going to live,” Betty Krogel said.
Even a week later, Krogel can’t shake the look in the suspect's eye.
“He was on the attack and you could see it in his eyes. He wanted somebody and he's looking at me,” Krogel said.
Krogel and his wife hope the suspect is caught and gets the help he needs.
“I think he needs to be locked up probably somewhere where he can get some mental health the best one,” Krogel said.
While both victims are now recovering at home, their families are checking in on one another.
One year ago, the 63-year-old woman was unable to keep working after undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumor. Since then, she’s rebuilding her strength. Salas Buenrostoro said this attack will slow down her recovery, but won’t stop her.
“We want to be able to go about our lives with freedom and in peace,” Salas Buenrostoro said.
Krogel has a message for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.
“Keep your eyes open and if somebody needs help, help them for God's sake,” Krogel said.
Police said after the attacks the suspect got back on the train heading north.
Anyone who believes they know the identity of this person or their whereabouts is urged to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.