SEATTLE — A 25-year-old man is accused of killing a sleeping homeless man outside of Town Hall Seattle by hitting him in the head with an ax on Feb. 22, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Liam Harrison Kryger, 25, was charged with first-degree murder. He remains in custody and his bail is set at $5 million.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 22, nearby surveillance video shows the victim, later identified as 52-year-old Daravuth Van, sleeping under a tarp and blankets outside of Town Hall Seattle, near 8th Avenue and Seneca Street, with two suitcases next to him.
Minutes later around 2:27 a.m., a person in a striped knit hat carrying a backpack with a long handle sticking out, later identified as Kryger, walks by Van several times in the next hour, allegedly casing Van and his location, charging documents state.
Around 3:28 a.m., Kryger is reportedly seen on video slowly approaching Van and checking for any people nearby. The suspect is seen on video swinging a long-handled ax down on Van and then leaving the area, according to court documents.
Around 5 a.m., a woman walking to the gym notices a large pool of blood around Van’s head on the sidewalk and calls 911. First responders determined Van died at the scene and that life-saving measures could not have been possible.
A patrolling officer on March 2 saw a person who matched the suspect’s description walking in Seattle and carrying a “tubular object” at his side, documents state. When detectives followed the suspect, he ran away and detectives later found a discarded ax in the bushes where the suspect had been running.
Law enforcement officials posted the suspect’s image in a bulletin and he was identified by a police officer who knew Kryger as a family friend. The following day, Kryger was arrested at his home in Seattle. He was wearing the same striped knit hat as seen in video surveillance from the morning of the killing, according to charging documents.
After being read his Miranda rights, Kryger allegedly told police he was the person in the surveillance images.
The ACLU of Washington said that everyone, especially the most vulnerable people in society, deserve to be safe.
"Unhoused people are often targeted due to their vulnerability, but that vulnerability is further exacerbated by a public discourse that promotes fear of and suspicion against them, and policies that continue to criminalize their existence in public spaces," the statement read in part.
In 2019, Kryger did not appear for a review hearing related to assault and trespassing charges. His mother attended the hearing and told the court that at the time, Kryger was in the hospital after getting into a fight with his brother, which led to his younger brother hitting him with a baseball bat to “stop his attack,” court documents state.
A week earlier in 2019, his mother said, she and Kryger’s father were woken up by Kryger screaming downstairs. When they went downstairs, Kryger allegedly attempted to stab his father with a 12-inch knife and threatened to cut off his mother’s hand and cut out her eye, then threatened to kill both of his parents, according to court documents.