On November 21st, at approximately 8:40 PM, West Precinct officers responded to a 911 call of a man who was down on the ground and bleeding from his head at 5th Avenue South and South Weller Street. When the officers arrived, the Seattle Fire Department was already on the scene treating the man. The 64 year old man was unresponsive. He was bleeding profusely from the head. It appeared that injury may have been caused when the man fell, striking his head against a metal pipe attached to the building. However, it was unknown whether or not the victim fell or was assaulted. The victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Homicide detectives were notified of the incident.
On November 23rd, the case was assigned for follow-up to Homicide detectives as a possible assault. On November 26th, the victim died at the hospital. During the autopsy at the Medical Examiner’s Office, it was determined that the victim sustained more injuries than originally reported and that his injuries were not consistent with a fall, but with a serious assault. This case is now being investigated as a homicide. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to call Homicide at (206) 684-5550.