SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is requesting a man's charges be upgraded to murder after he allegedly beat an elderly man to death with a metal pull-up bar because he was "doing the devil's work."
The King County Prosecutors Office charged Aaron Fulk, 48, with first-degree attempted murder Friday in connection to an Aug. 2 incident involving a 66-year-old man. The man died on Saturday from his injuries, according to a release from Seattle police.
Prosecutors said the charges will be amended to murder once the King County Medical Examiner's Office or police formally notify them of the victim's death.
According to charging documents, a Seattle police officer was in a patrol vehicle driving eastbound on Pike Street at about 3 p.m. on Aug. 2 when she heard the 66-year-old man yelling, "help me, help me."
The officer saw Fulk raise a 3-foot-4-inch metal pull-up bar over his head in a downward manner to strike the victim, court documents state. The officer said the victim fell "motionless" to the ground when the suspect struck the victim on the side of his head.
The attack happened on a busy street "in full view of a Seattle Police Department officer and several witnesses," the court documents detailed.
Police said the victim was unarmed and needed a walker to move around. He was 5-foot-6 and about 120 pounds, according to King County Prosecutors.
Emergency crews arrived to tend to the victim, who regained a pulse a few minutes after the attack, but remained unconscious. Court documents said the victim was at Harborview Medical Center in "grave" condition," but a SPD blotter post from Sunday said he died from his injuries.
Officers at the scene said Fulk did not show any remorse for the attack, telling medics, "he's crippled now, isn't he?" Fulk allegedly said. "If I have to go to jail for it. I will," and signaled his intention to kill him when he said, "I'm gonna kill him a million times over."
Fulk told officers he beat the elderly man because "he was doing the devil's work."
Police took Fulk into custody without incident after he tried to flee westbound on Pike Street.
Prosecutors said Fulk was charged by Pierce County with felony harassment on July 25 for threatening to kill a Pierce Transit public safety officer. The incident was eight days before the attack in Seattle.
Fulk was convicted of attempted assault in 2018, disorderly conduct in 2011, false reporting and reckless driving in 1994 and aggravated battery in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, according to court documents.
The King County Prosecutor's Officer argued in this Seattle case that Fulk should be held on $2.5 million bail because of the danger to the community. The suspect remains in the King County Jail at this time.
