Police arrest suspect in Seattle after fatal stabbing in Edmonds grocery store lot

EDMONDS, Wash. — Seattle police arrested a suspect who is believed to have stabbed a man to death in Edmonds on Wednesday night.

Police first believed the attack happened as a result of a carjacking, but later said the victim was targeted.

Ian S. Bramel-Allen, 43, was arrested near Volunteer Park.

Seattle police found the vehicle that was stolen — a Kia Sorento — near Volunteer Park at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday. Officers searched for the suspect but he was not found.

Shortly after 11 a.m., officers returned to the 1500 block of East Highland Drive to look for Bramel-Allen after receiving a call from someone who had seen Bramel-Allen’s photo after Edmonds police posted it on Facebook and Twitter.

The first officer to arrive spotted Bramel-Allen, who refused commands to stop and ran into Volunteer Park, according to Seattle police.

He was taken into custody in the 1400 block of East Prospect Street after stabbing himself in the neck. As of Friday, Bramel-Allen remained at Harborview Medical Center under guard.

Bramel-Allen is expected to be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery, according to the Edmonds Police Department.

The 37-year-old victim was stabbed in the Winco Foods parking lot along Highway 99 and 220th Street Southwest at around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Edmonds police said the victim and the suspect knew one another but it’s unclear what their relationship was.

A man who was in the grocery store parking lot during the attack told KIRO 7 that he and others tried to save the victim.

“He said, ‘You can’t stab people in the chest!’ And then it kinda alerted myself and another gentleman coming down that we better get down there and figure out what’s going on,” said John Coyle. “We went down there, and he’s on his stomach. So we just kind of rolled him over and tried to put some pressure on the chest.”

Edmonds police said the SUV that was stolen Wednesday night did not belong to the man who died, but he had been allowed to use it.

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