Girl Wounded In Attack With Cane Sword, Hammer -- Police Arrest 20- Year-Old Former Boyfriend

BELLEVUE

A 16-year-old girl was stabbed with a cane sword and hit on the head with a hammer yesterday morning, and a 20-year-old former boyfriend has been arrested.

The girl was in serious condition this morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a collapsed lung, skull fracture and cuts on her right arm.

Police went to the suspected assailant's Lake Hills home several times yesterday and finally found him at home about 5 p.m. and arrested him, said a police spokesman.

Police said the girl was home, in the 16600 block of Southeast 26th Street, with her two younger brothers when the attack occurred.

She told police she was on her way to the bathroom about 8 a.m. when she was confronted in a hallway by her assailant, who was wearing black jeans and a black trenchcoat.

Police Capt. Dan Hansen said the man told her he was sorry and began slashing with the sword and swinging the hammer. The hammer was found in the house and a 15-inch sword was found on the street in front.

Despite her injuries, Hansen said, the girl was able to return to her bedroom and call 911.

Her brothers told police they heard their sister screaming and then heard someone leaving the house. But, they said, they didn't witness the attack.

The assailant seems to have entered the house through an open window, police said. He is being held in the King County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault.