The King County Sheriff’s Office is still looking for a man who allegedly attacked a woman with a Taser or stun gun on the on the popular Tiger Mountain Trail near Issaquah on Saturday, April 24.
According to information released by police last week, the woman was able to fight off her attacker. She received minor injuries, and did not require hospitalization.
The suspect has not been caught. This week the Sheriff’s Office released a sketch of the man, and is appealing for information from the public.
The suspect is described as a white male, in his mid-40s, with gray to white hair, 5’8” tall and about 160 to 165 lbs. He was wearing a hoodless, gray pullover sweatshirt with a “coarse weave.”
He had on black, Spandex running pants, a white mock-turtleneck, light-colored running shoes and black gloves with Velcro closures.
The victim described the suspect as clean shaven and neat appearing.
If anyone was hiking on Tiger Mountain on Saturday and/or recognizes the description of the suspect, they are asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.
The 24 year-old Seattle woman was on a work crew and is employed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and a member of their Washington Conservation Corp, but was alone when the attacked occurred.
The victim was about 100 yards up the Tiger Mountain Trail when she was accosted by man in running attire. He engaged her in small talk, and when her back was turned he grabbed her, shocked her with an electrical device and pushed her to the ground. She fought with him and escaped, running back down the trail to her co-workers.
Though the incident happened on Saturday, April 24, at about 10:40 a.m., it wasn’t until the following Wednesday that Police released information about the attack to the public.
According to King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Urquhart, further investigation was required before information about the attack could be released.
“It didn’t get to detectives until Monday, which is pretty typical for a weekend,” he told The Reporter. “Before we went public with it, we had additional investigating we wanted to do.”
Urquhart said that in incidences like this, police needed to balance a number of concerns.
“There is always a trade off between warning the public, and wanting to catch the guy,” he said, adding that by releasing information too soon there was a danger that evidence could be disturbed, or the suspect could become overly cautious.
This week, signs about the attack and an appeal for information were posted at a number of trailheads in the Tiger Mountain area.
