Man receives 13-month sentence in Kent Library attack

Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2026

A 37-year-old Seattle man received a 13-month sentence for second-degree assault after he stabbed a man in the arm at the Kent Library.

King County Superior Court Judge Michael K. Ryan sentenced Travis Anthony Alen to 13 months and 18 additional months in community custody after release. Ryan issued the sentence April 3 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

“The statewide standard sentencing range he was facing was 12-14 months,” said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in an April 6 email. “Prosecutors recommended 13 months in addition to no-contact orders and community custody after release.”

Alen cannot have contact for 10 years with an 18-year-old Kent man he stabbed at about 1:40 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Kent Library, 212 Second Ave. N., in a reportedly unprovoked incident, according to court documents.

Alen pleaded guilty to the charge March 23 after initially pleading not guilty Jan. 26. Alen had been held in the Regional Justice Center since his arrest on $200,000 bail. He was released from the county jail April 7 to be transferred to the state Department of Corrections.

The attack

Kent Police officers were dispatched Jan. 16 to a stabbing at HealthPoint Urgent Care, 219 State Ave. N., according to charging papers. An employee called 911 to report a subject ran into the clinic saying he was just stabbed. An officer interviewed the Kent man who said he was at the library when a man, later identified as Alen, reportedly started arguing with him and that he told Alen to shut up, according to charging documents.

Alen then stabbed the Kent man in the arm. The Kent man told police that Alen reached into his pocket and punched something toward him but he didn’t see what the object was. He was struck near his left bicep and had a clear stab injury, according to police.

He said the security guard at the library knew Alen by name. An officer talked to employees and a security guard at the library who provided a picture of Alen. Officers found Alen a short time later at the King County Metro Transit Center and took him into custody without incident, according to charging papers.

When officers searched Alen, they reportedly found in his possession two sheathed daggers, two sets of brass knuckles, a collapsible baton and a folding knife that had wet blood on the blade, according to police.

The library’s security guard told officers that Alen had been in the library on prior occasions and had never caused a problem. Alen told officers that “some dude kept walking around me,” when asked about the library incident, according to charging documents.

He said he told the man to stop or sit down. He said the man gave him no choice but to stab him.

“I leave everybody alone, they keep coming around me,” Alen reportedly said to an officer. “I’m eventually going to have to do something, otherwise I’m gonna have people jumping.”

Alen’s criminal history includes a 2018 conviction for failing to register as a sex offender in King County and juvenile adjudications for first-degree child molestation in 2003, according to charging papers.