Suspect who police say randomly stabbed 3 men in downtown Seattle has been arrested at least 22 times before



SEATTLE - The random violence on a downtown Seattle sidewalk is drawing out raw emotions.

“It’s devastating, it’s terrible,” Stacy Bennett said.

Chaos in broad daylight that landed 2 men in the hospital. A third man was treated and released at the scene.

“I heard screams,” said one man.

Screams from people running away past Athena’s food truck on 6th Avenue. An employee says he saw five to seven people run past.

“There was too much going on, it was a lot,” tourist Wilhemina Boone said.

Boone had just gotten off a cruise ship and was touring downtown Seattle when she saw the sea of police officers and some of the injured.

“The second man with his head wrapped up looked like a war wound,” Boone said.

Seattle Police say Christopher Morisette stabbed one elderly man in the neck and another one in the back. Both are men in their 70s. They were rushed to Harborview.

“We do believe this was an unprovoked, random attack, so it is very concerning for us,” Seattle Police Spokesperson Sean Whitcomb said.

“I just hope the victims are okay,” Bennett said.

Police say one of the victims ran into a nearby business for help.

Witnesses telling Q13 News they saw crews mopping up blood outside the Nordstrom near 6th and Pine.

“I know the suspect tried to get rid of the knife,” Whitcomb said.

Police retrieved the knife that was tossed into a delivery truck and by the time they caught up to Morisette, he was in a different state.

“The suspect was naked at the time of apprehension,” Whitcomb said.

“It’s getting out of control, crazy, we deserve better,” Bennett said.

Bennett owns Buki, a clothing store along 6th Avenue. She says she doesn’t recognize the Seattle she grew up in and she is heartbroken over what she calls rampant crime.

She says she sees open drug use and people suffering from mental illness almost every day in the downtown core.

“The system is broken and the mentally ill people around the streets and we have to do something,” Bennett said.

Whitcomb says police will be working with the King County Prosecutor’s Office to make sure Morisette receives the full weight of the law, but he’s been in trouble many times before.

Q13 News looked into his criminal history. It shows that the 29-year-old has at least 22 arrests in the state of Washington, including offenses in Seattle. The last time he was picked up was for assault in Seattle last year.