WA man faces hate crime charges after knife attack at Ezell's

Name: WA man faces hate crime charges after knife attack in Edmonds
Uploaded: 2024-07-15T15:23:15-07:00
Description: A 47-year-old man has been charged with hate crime assault in connection to a knife attack at an Ezell's Famous Chicken in Edmonds.

WA man faces hate crime charges after knife attack in Edmonds

A 47-year-old man has been charged with hate crime assault in connection to a knife attack at an Ezell's Famous Chicken in Edmonds.

EDMONDS, Wash. - A 47-year-old man has been charged with hate crime assault in connection to a knife attack at an Ezell's Famous Chicken in Edmonds.

Snohomish County prosecutors have charged 47-year-old Marcus Damion Anderson with second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault, and a hate crime offense in connection to the attack, which happened June 14.

According to court documents, Edmonds Police were called to reports of an assault at an Ezell's on Hwy 99. Dispatch told officers a man was "waving a knife" at employees.

When they arrived, they saw that Ezell's employees were waiting outside, and they said the suspect was still inside.

Witnesses told police that Anderson came in, asked to use the restroom, and then started swinging a knife and threatened to cut one of the employees, making statements about "getting rid of the Hispanics," court docs say. He was targeting one employee in particular, but the victim and another employee are both Hispanic, and both believed they were in danger. The other employee said Anderson yelled racial slurs about "the f---ing Mexicans" while waving his knife, court docs say.

Police went in and arrested Anderson, who had a knife and 20–30 fentanyl pills on him, authorities say. Anderson spit on officers several times and was uncooperative, so police put a spit hood on him, court docs say.

Authorities believe Anderson did not know anyone in the store when he went in.

Prosecutors say Anderson has several misdemeanor and felony convictions stretching back to 1991, including a fatal hit-and-run in 1996. Anderson also has seven warrants for failing to appear in court, though the warrants are quite old.