SEATTLE — The suspect in a random hammer attack at a Seattle light rail station was charged Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Richard Aaron Gordon faces charges of first, second and fourth-degree assault. He is currently being held at the King County Jail on $1 million bail.
Gordon's arraignment, where he will enter a plea, is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Gordon allegedly struck two people with a hammer at the Beacon Hill light rail station just before 4 p.m. on Sept. 28. A 63-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were both struck in the head and taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. They were released the next day.
A witness to the incident said the suspect was threatening people at the light rail station.
"This man is walking around with a red hammer, saying things like, 'I'll kill you. I'll kill you if you touch me,'" a witness said. "So I'm trying to get in the elevator and he's like, 'Yeah you better get in the elevator before I kill you.' So I'm freaking out."
According to charging documents, Gordon was displaying "increasingly paranoid behavior in the days and weeks leading up to the attack."
According to probable cause documents, Gordon first struck a woman, later identified as Elvia Salas-Buenrostoro, in the back of her head. Salas-Buenrostoro, 63, walked away from Gordon toward 60-year-old Doug Krogel and his wife, Betty.
Doug Krogel was in a wheelchair at the time and Betty Krogel was using a walker.
Gordon pulled out a hammer and approached the three, raising it over his head as "though he were about to swing it," according to probable cause documents. Doug stood from his wheelchair and Gordon lowered the hammer and began walking away.
Doug Krogel placed himself between the two women and the suspect and stopped.
Doug Krogel and Gordon appeared to speak to each other. Moments later, Gordon struck Doug Krogel in the head with the hammer, according to probable cause documents.
Krogel fell to the ground, hitting his head. He did not move for about four seconds.
After the hammer strike, Betty Krogel walked toward Gordon and appeared to speak to him. Gordon struck her in the head three times with a textile.
Doug stood back up and re-approached Gordon, along with several other people.
Gordon left the scene on an elevator.
Elvia Salas-Buenrostoro's medical records show she had a possible concussion.
Doug Krogel sustained a laceration to his scalp and received two "deep absorbable sutures" and eight "superficial sutures."
Betty Krogel was not hospitalized.
Gordon was eventually arrested on Oct. 13 following an investigation.
When interviewed by police and shown surveillance footage of the attack, Gordon stated the person depicted in the video was a "shapeshifter who looked like him trying to frame him." He said people were trying to kill him to get his Mercedes, and "while possessed by a witch, he was made to lock his keys and some other property in the vehicle's trunk."