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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Argument over window led man to fatally stab bus driver, Seattle police say; suspect faces first-degree murder charge

A bus drives by a memorial for Shawn Yim at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 41st Street in the University District of Seattle on Friday. Yim, a 59-year-old Metro bus driver, suffered stab wounds to the chest and died at the scene.  (Kevin Clark/Seattle Times)
By Caitlyn Freeman Seattle Times

SEATTLE – It was one of Shawn Yim’s co-workers who flagged down police in the early hours Saturday about the wanted man sleeping in the back of the bus in downtown Seattle.

Richard Sitzlack’s face had been plastered across Seattle news stations for days. The 6-foot-5 passenger in a dark hoodie was wanted in the killing of the veteran King County Metro bus driver, who was stabbed to death early Wednesday in the University District.

Around 4:51 a.m. Saturday, officers converged near Third Avenue South and South Main Street after being tipped off by a bus driver, police say. Sitzlack was asleep on a seat in the back.

“Hey!” an officer shouted, beside another officer with a rifle drawn, according to body camera footage. “The one with the green hoodie! Looking at us! Come over here with your hands up! You’re not free to leave!”

The man complied.

On Monday, King County prosecutors rush-filed a premeditated first-degree murder charge against 53-year-old Sitzlack in the killing of Yim, 59, who, according to charging documents, was stabbed 10 times in the torso around 3 a.m. Wednesday just outside his Route 70 bus at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northwest 41st Street.

His death marked the first killing of a Metro driver on the job in 26 years.

Documents released Saturday detail what police believe led to Yim’s death.

Security footage from Metro bus No. 7011 showed a man in a dark hoodie and camouflage cargo pants boarded the bus about two blocks north of the stabbing scene, around 2:49 a.m., according to a Seattle detective’s probable cause statement. The rider reportedly closed a window. Yim told him he needed to open the window to keep it from fogging up. They argued. The man told Yim he was cold, then began “speaking disparagingly” about the bus driver, according to police. Yim ordered him off the bus.

At 2:53 a.m., the passenger pepper-sprayed Yim in the face, then fled the bus. Yim followed, according to police. The man kicked the bus driver between the legs. Yim dialed 911.

“Yes, I need a police here at UW, U-District, Campus Parkway, please, I just got assaulted,” he said, according to a transcript. “Hurry please. He’s fleeing.”

Security cameras from a business captured the assailant running at Yim, fighting with him and pushing him back to the ground when he tried to get up, according to the probable cause statement.

Over the sound of a struggle, Yim told the 911 dispatcher he’d been stabbed. An autopsy later revealed at least 10 knife wounds. Yim had suffered a severed artery and punctured lungs. A witness found Yim unresponsive at 2:55 a.m., according to the footage. He died at the scene.

On the sidewalk, police found a Winchester brand knife sheath. A half-block north, homicide detectives say they recovered a bloody knife, with the same brand, in a garbage can.

The witness – who was the only other passenger on the bus – recognized the attacker as somebody he had spoken with earlier in the day at Tent City 3, a homeless camp hosted by the University of Washington. Police got a warrant and found Sitzlack’s background check to join the camp that day, along with a photo of his driver’s license. The witness felt certain the man in the picture was the killer.

Sitzlack spent days as the most wanted man in Seattle. But when police caught up to their suspect, he was in a familiar place: aboard a King County bus on a chilly night, in the early hours of the morning. He was about 4 miles south of the stabbing scene.

After his arrest, Sitzlack was interviewed by homicide detectives.

Sitzlack reportedly told one of the officers “something to the effect of, ‘I’m sorry for what I did,’ ” according to the probable cause document. He later acknowledged to a detective that the superficial injuries to his knuckles were from “the fight with the bus driver.” He was booked into King County Jail.

A judge reviewed the probable cause documents for Sitzlack on Saturday, finding cause to hold him for second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and third-degree assault. He could have a court appearance as soon as Monday, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in an email.

A spokesperson for Seattle police deferred to the prosecutor’s office, when asked about other details leading up to the arrest. Officers earlier said Sitzlack had been sighted on other security footage, wearing distinctive clothes that matched witness descriptions of the clothes worn by Yim’s assailant: camo pants, a yellow backpack, a navy blue hooded sweatshirt.

Sitzlack had also been arrested Nov. 2, 2023, for investigation of fatally stabbing his roommate at an apartment in the 5500 block of University Way Northeast – about a mile north of Wednesday’s stabbing.

Initial inconsistencies in Sitzlack’s story led prosecutors to ask for probable cause for domestic violence murder at a court hearing in 2023. Police carried out “numerous search warrants” over months, but there was not enough evidence to disprove Sitzlack’s self-defense argument, McNerthney said.

He was never charged in that case.

“Later investigation showed that Sitzlack could have been attacked where he said the attack happened in the apartment,” McNerthney said. “The little inconsistencies initially noted certainly could not overcome the self-defense claim under Washington law. There was nothing so outrageous and inconsistent to the point that Sitzlack’s self-defense claim could be disproven.”

In the probable cause statement this week, police noted the other investigation: “This is the second murder the suspect has participated in, in the past 12 months.”

Community members planned a candlelight vigil for Yim at 7 p.m. Saturday at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 41st Street.

“Any one act of violence is unacceptable. Shawn’s death is unacceptable,” Metro general manager Michelle Allison wrote in a letter to employees Wednesday. “Let’s take especially good care of each other right now.”

King County Metro has asked the public to respect the privacy of Yim’s family. He had been driving for King County Metro since 2015.