A man on the run for the fatal stabbing of a Seattle bus driver was arrested and then released a year ago in connection to a different murder.
The Seattle Police Department says Richard Sitzlack, 53, fatally stabbed bus driver Shawn Yim on Wednesday morning. Now, he’s on the run – but authorities say he was arrested a year ago on suspicion of killing his roommate, then released due to a lack of evidence, local outlet Fox13 reports.
The Seattle transit union is offering a $10,000 reward for information on Sitzlack.
Yim was driving a bus around 3 a.m. with just Sitzlack and one other passenger when he and the 53-year-old suspect began to fight, police said. After Yim was stabbed, the driver tried to walk away before collapsing.
Seattle police are searching for Richard Sitzlack, pictured, in connection to the fatal stabbing of bus driver Shawn Yim (Seattle Police Department)
The passenger who says they witnessed the stabbing told Fox13 the pair got into a fight over an open window on the bus. The witness, whose name was withheld by Fox13, said Sitzlack then pepper-sprayed Yim and they both got off the bus.
“I didn’t know what to do,” the witness said. “It was one of those situations where my brain is just like, I want to go to work. That’s where my mind was, and when everything started, it’s just like, oh no, no, no this can’t be life.”
The witness got off the bus shortly afterward to search for Yim, later finding him in an alleyway and calling 911.
A witness says Sitzlack, pictured, got into a fight with Yim over an open window on the bus (Seattle Police Department)
“Stunned. Gone. There was nothing,” the witness said. “I went over to his body, and I’m crying hysterically because I see he’s gone. His mouth is open, I called for him twice with dispatch on the phone. There was nothing. I wanted to touch him to help. He was gone.”
Sitzlack has been on the run ever since the alleged incident.
A witness claims they saw him in downtown Seattle on Wednesday night, about five miles from the scene of the stabbing, Fox13 reports, citing police sources.
Investigators released photos of Sitlzack on Thursday, over 24 hours after Yim was stabbed. The pictures show him carrying bags, including a bright yellow backpack.
Sitzlack was arrested in connection to his roommate’s death a year ago. But, he was never charged for his roommate’s death due to a lack of evidence, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said (Seattle Police Department)
Sitzlack was arrested last year after he claimed his roommate tried to kill him with a machete and he fought back, stabbing him to death, Fox13 reports. He called the police after the incident. Prosecutors did not have enough evidence to press charges for his murder, however.
“Both police and prosecutors looked at the admissible evidence and thought we can’t disprove the claim of self-defense,” Casey McNerthney, communications director for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told Fox13.
“If King County prosecutors had the evidence to charge him with murder, we would have charged him with murder,” McNerthney added.
