On April 2 (local time), Fox News and other outlets reported that prosecutors charged 26-year-old Elisio Melendez on March 19 with attempted second-degree murder after he allegedly shoved an innocent commuter onto the tracks at Seattle’s Northgate station.
CCTV released by prosecutors shows Melendez trailing a man on the platform and waiting for the train to arrive.
As the train approached, he shoved the man without hesitation. The victim managed to regain his footing near the end of the platform, but Melendez tried to push him again before fleeing the scene. Prosecutors say the footage suggests the suspect deliberately timed the attack to coincide with the train’s arrival.
Authorities arrested Melendez shortly afterward at a nearby psychiatric facility. Investigators say this was not his first violent incident: he faced charges in 2019 for stabbing a family member.
A court at that time found him unfit to stand trial and ordered his confinement to a psychiatric hospital in 2021. Clinicians later determined his condition had improved and deemed him low risk in 2022, and he was released. Four years after the earlier incident, he is now accused of attacking a commuter.
Melendez remains detained on $750,000 bail (about 1 billion KRW). The court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.
