King County prosecutors charged a 26-year-old man with second-degree murder and intimidating a witness on Thursday after he allegedly stabbed a man to death at the Capitol Hill light rail station on Saturday and threatened to kill a witness if he “snitched.”
Shawn Patrick Moore is being held on $3 million bail at the King County Jail and will enter a plea to both charges at a May 29 arraignment in the King County Courthouse.
Moore allegedly stabbed 37-year-old Corey Evan Bellett in the neck, arm and torso during an argument on the station platform shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday. Moore and a friend allegedly confronted Bellett after he “brushed by” them on the escalator, court records show.
Seattle police reviewed video footage of the incident, which appeared to show Moore and Bellett “pushing, shoving, and slapping each other” before Moore pulled something from his pocket and thrust it several times at Bellett, who fell onto the tracks, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Moore and his friend appeared to leave the station before Bellett got up from the tracks, blood falling from his body. Transit security was shown in the video footage calling for help as Bellett knelt, holding his neck and chest, the affidavit states.
Bellett, a chef at Harry’s Fine Foods on Capitol Hill, was taken to Harborview Medical Center where he died, according to court records and the restaurant owner.
After learning Bellett died in the stabbing, Moore’s friend called 911 to report that he knew the suspect and where he had hidden the box cutter used in the attack. The friend told police he had seen Moore throw the knife into a Harvard Avenue garage after the stabbing and that Moore had threatened to kill him if he “snitched,” according to the affidavit.
Officers searched the garage and recovered a “box knife,” court records show.
Police later traced a phone number that was repeatedly calling the witness to an address in Eatonville, where Moore was arrested Monday by U.S. marshals, the affidavit states.
Seattle police ask anyone with information about the stabbing to call 206-233-5000.