Murder charge for man accused of Seattle light rail fatal stabbing

The man accused of a fatal stabbing at a Seattle light rail station has been charged with murder.

The King County Prosecutor's Office has charged 26-year-old Shawn Moore with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and intimidating a witness, all in connection to the fatal stabbing of 37-year-old Corey Bellett, a chef at Harry's Fine Foods in Capitol Hill.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 13 News, Bellett brushed past Moore and another man when descending the escalator at the Capitol Hill light rail station. Moore and the other man confronted him, which soon escalated into an argument when Bellett allegedly called them a homophobic slur, then the third man tried to put his arm between the two of them to stop a fight from breaking out. Court docs say Bellett pushed Moore, then Moore pushed back, and the two started grabbing each other by their clothes, slapping and pushing and shoving each other.

The third man tried pulling the two men off each other. Moore then pulled out a box cutter and stabbed Bellett over and over, even after Bellett had fallen onto the train tracks and was trying to back away, court docs say.

Bellett climbed off the tracks and was seen bleeding profusely on surveillance video. Seattle Police and firefighters were called to help, but Bellett later died at Harborview Medical Center.

The same witness Moore is accused of intimidating later called police and said he knew the suspect, knew the location of the knife and clothes, and properly identified him as "Shawn Moore." Court documents show Moore and the witness knew each other from the Roots Young Adult Shelter.

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The witness explained that Moore had stayed at his house the night prior, and they were heading to the light rail station to go their separate ways. After the stabbing, Moore insisted on coming back to the witness's apartment to change clothes and stash some things, then he left. Moore then told the witness he would kill him if he "snitched on him," according to court docs. The witness saw on the news that Bellett had died, so he called his mother, and then called police to report Moore.

The witness also said he had not picked up several calls from a woman he says is Moore's girlfriend. According to court documents, this woman shares a five-month-old child with Moore and had previously filed a protection order against him in Nov. 2023, saying he would verbally and physically abuse her. In one instance, she told police Moore stabbed her in the thigh, which required stiches.

The protection order petition was dismissed when Moore and his girlfriend did not show up to the hearing.

Given this domestic incident and Moore's family connections to the East Coast, prosecutors argued that he poses a substantial flight risk, and asked for his bail to be set at $3 million. The state also claims that Moore is "highly likely to interfere in the administration of justice by continuing his attempts to intimidate a [witness]."

According to an autopsy from the King County Medical Examiner's Office, Bellett suffered stab wounds to his neck, which punctured his trachea and his jugular vein. 

Moore is scheduled to be arraigned on May 29.

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