Homeless Sierra Leone national lures cops with fake 911 call then stabs officer in Bellevue, WA

On Monday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Mohamed Morray Bangura, 38, with assault in the first degree with a deadly weapon enhancement and assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon enhancement. Prosecutors have asked a judge to hold Bangura on $5 million bail, arguing he poses a serious risk to public safety.

According to charging documents obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, the incident began shortly after noon when the regional 911 dispatch center received a call reporting a verbal domestic dispute at the Bellevue Transit Center. The caller refused to identify himself, provided vague information, and disconnected when pressed for details. Investigators later determined the call was made by Bangura himself.

The caller asked dispatchers to send “an officer or two” and suggested there “might” be weapons involved, despite offering no specifics. Officers Sean Winebrenner and Guilherme Spagnolo were dispatched, believing they were responding to a routine disturbance call. Prosecutors say that belief was exactly what Bangura intended. “The deliberateness of this attack, having lured police officers to his location by making a bogus 911 call, demonstrates the lengths this defendant will go to injure others,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.

Body-worn camera footage reviewed by investigators shows the officers calmly contacting Bangura when they arrived. He appeared cooperative and showed no outward signs of aggression. Seconds into the interaction, however, the encounter turned violent. Bangura suddenly reached into his jacket, pulled out a kitchen knife, and lunged at Officer Spagnolo in a downward stabbing motion. When Spagnolo avoided the strike, Bangura immediately turned and attacked Officer Winebrenner.

Prosecutors say Bangura slashed Winebrenner’s face and then stabbed him multiple times as the officer fell to the ground. Officer Spagnolo fired his service weapon, striking Bangura and stopping the attack. Officer Winebrenner suffered a deep facial laceration, a broken clavicle, and a dislocated shoulder. Both the officer and Bangura were taken to Harborview Medical Center. Bangura was identified from his phone number and Washington Driver's license. Washington State Patrol detectives located his Sierra Leone passport with his full name and photograph, which matches the person in the officers’ video and his Department of Licensing photograph.

Investigators say Bangura appeared to be acting out of anger toward Bellevue police. Court records show he had filed a complaint against an unrelated Bellevue officer the day before the stabbing. Rather than allowing that complaint process to continue, prosecutors say Bangura armed himself and staged the fake emergency call. Seconds before attacking, Bangura told officers, “Officer [X] put a false case on me,” according to the probable cause statement.

Bangura had no prior criminal cases referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office before this incident. However, police previously encountered Bangura in September while he was sleeping on the property of the First Congregational Church located near the Bellevue Transit Center.

Bangura is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 am Thursday, Dec. 18, in King County Superior Court. Prosecutors argue that the alleged use of a false 911 call to ambush responding officers makes this case especially alarming. “These officers believed they were responding to help someone in need,” prosecutors wrote. “Instead, they were walking into a planned act of violence.”