The suspect arrested in connection with multiple stabbings in the Chinatown-International District appeared in court Saturday for his first appearance and was ordered held on $2 million bail.
Roland Lee, 37, the suspect arrested Friday in connection with five stabbings in the Chinatown-International District, appeared in court Saturday afternoon for his first appearance, according to a news release from a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
In court, a senior King County deputy prosecutor asked the court to find probable cause on five counts of first-degree assault and hold him on $2 million bail. The defense asked the court for a lower amount.
The court, after hearing from prosecutors and defense, found probable cause for five counts of first-degree assault and ordered Lee to hold $2 million.
As of Saturday afternoon, the spokesperson said a case had not yet been referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for a charging decision.
Lee remains in the King County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.
On Friday, multiple law enforcement agencies from across the city of Seattle responded to the latest incident at the 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street intersection in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. A department spokesperson says five people have been stabbed.
The victims’ wounds range from a minor cut to a serious stab wound, he said.
Four victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition for treatment. One of them still had the knife in his wound when paramedics arrived. One man was upgraded to serious in the center’s ICU on Saturday morning, and two others remain serious in the ICU. The fourth victim remains satisfying.
One victim did not require treatment and was released.
Police found only one knife used in the incident and no other weapons were found at the scene.
This high-casualty incident is related to five other separate stabbings that have occurred in the past 38 hours, the spokesperson said. In total, ten different stabbings took place in different locations, injuring nine men and one woman.
“The arbitrariness, the level of violence involved,” the spokesperson said.
These concerns are causing King County prosecutors to hold this man accountable.
Surveillance video captured the moments before police say Lee stabbed his first victim.
“It is very difficult for people who live there to visit the CID. They want to know they are safe and they deserve that,” the spokesperson said.
Safety is an ongoing issue for a nearby Taiwanese kitchen at 12th and Jackson streets.
“No customer feels safe here, so I always have to lock the door,” said restaurant owner Henry Ku.
Ku said the stabbing was scary… but not a surprise.
“I already know there’s a lot of crime happening. There is a crime every day, not just one day. There is a crime every day,” Ku said.
He also said it has been a struggle to get people to come in and eat at his restaurant.
“See?” he asked. “Today we have no customers.”
The restaurant has only two employees, otherwise Ku would have to close his CID business, he said.
Instead of retiring at 70, Ku says he’s keeping his business going to help others who are also struggling.
“I’m still trying to fight to change it… help everyone,” Ku said.
“People who live in and travel to the Chinatown-International District deserve to feel safe and be safe, and the King County Prosecutor’s Office will continue to do its part to ensure necessary accountability,” said Prosecutor Leesa Manion of King County Saturday afternoon.
