Kent Police arrested a 37-year-old Centralia man for investigation of second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon after he reportedly stabbed an 18-year-old Kent man in the arm at the Kent Library.
Officers responded at about 1:41 p.m. Jan. 16 to a downtown urgent care facility in response to a 911 call of a stabbing, according to a Jan. 22 Kent Police Facebook post. Dispatchers advised that the incident had occurred at the Kent Library, 212 Second Ave. N., but the man who was stabbed had driven himself to urgent care.
The suspect had fled on foot. Multiple officers responded to the library, urgent care and the surrounding area, according to police.
The 18-year-old man had a non-life-threatening stab wound in his arm, according to police. It was deep and bleeding, but he was receiving medical aid and was able to provide critical information. He told police he was at the library when the unknown suspect became confrontational toward him. He said he attempted to ignore him and not engage, but the suspect suddenly walked rapidly toward him and reportedly poked him once in the arm before fleeing. The man said he did not know the suspect and there was no dispute prior to the stabbing except for the suspect being agitated.
The library’s security guard was interviewed and said that the Centralia man had been in the library on prior occasions and had never caused a problem. He did not see the stabbing, but said that just prior to both parties leaving the library, he heard the suspect raise his voice and noticed he was agitated. He talked to the suspect and thought he had calmed down. Shortly after this interaction, the man reportedly assaulted the other man, then walked out the front doors. The library staff did not initially realize that an assault had occurred.
The library quickly provided a photo of the man to the officer on scene. He immediately disseminated it to the officers who were aggressively looking for the man.
An officer searching in the Metro Transit Station area spotted the man in the lot. The man, with ties to Bonney Lake, was taken into custody without incident. When the suspect’s belongings were inventoried, he reportedly had 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.
When interviewed by police, the man admitted to being in the library but did not admit to the assault. Officers booked him into the King County jail.
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