The suspect accused of killing a homeless man with an ax earlier in 2024 has been accused in a similar incident, which occurred days before the first incident, in Seattle, Washington.
Prosecutors said the victims in both cases, identified as 68-year-old Paul Ewell and 52-year-old Daravuth Van, were presumably killed in February by ax blows to their heads as they slept, the Seattle Times reported on Tuesday. The newspaper noted the incidents happened less than a mile apart.
In addition, their deaths occurred 12 days apart from each other.
“The suspected murder weapon — a blue-handled, double-headed ax sold exclusively at Lowe’s stores — ultimately led Seattle police to identify Liam Kryger, 25, as the men’s alleged killer, court records show,” the outlet said, adding that it remained unknown why the homeless men were targeted.
The Times report continued:
Kryger was charged with premeditated first-degree murder in Van’s Feb. 22 killing in early March and ordered held in jail in lieu of $5 million bail. Then, on Monday, he was charged with a second count of premeditated first-degree murder, accused of killing Ewell on Feb. 10, and is now being held without bail. Both charges also include deadly weapon enhancements. Kryger’s attorney, Christine Tian, entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.
A man walking his dog found Ewell’s body on February 10 in the parking lot of the Seattle Men’s Chorus offices on 12th Avenue. Ewell appeared to have been sleeping at the time, and an autopsy showed he suffered three blows from a heavy, sharp object.
Twelve days later, on February 22, a woman called the police to report that she found a man, who was later identified as Van, lying near the entrance to Town Hall Seattle. His skull had reportedly been fractured by a sharp, blunt object and he, too, had apparently been sleeping when the incident happened.
Surveillance video recorded on February 22 shows an individual police said was Kryger swinging the ax, per KOMO. At the time, Kryger pleaded not guilty:
The violent incidents happened as police were investigating several attacks on homeless people who had made their beds outside in February, Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported on May 13:
Kryger’s path through the justice system will involve questions of mental health. Prosecutors say Kryger was previously arrested in 2018 for a violent burglary and stabbing in North Bend that placed him in a treatment program under supervision of the King County Mental Health Court.
“Kryger failed to attend a scheduled review hearing in late 2019 but managed to steer clear of the law until his arrest this winter,” it stated.
In August, data showed the homeless population growing at a record pace across President Joe Biden’s America as he tried to get hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund a housing plan for illegal aliens, Breitbart News reported.
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