Washington murder suspect claimed he was ‘attacked by anti-masker’

Police in Bothell, WA, arrested a lone suspect Sunday night, in a homicide investigation at the 19000 block of 112th Ave NE.

According to Bothell Police, just before 7:30pm, several calls came in to 911 which stated that a man had been stabbed.  The first officer at the scene arrived within moments of the first 911 calls. She immediately began life-saving procedures and soon after medics arrived at the scene but unfortunately, the 29-year-old-man's life could not be saved.

Additional Bothell Police officers arrived on the scene and located the lone suspect in an apartment in the building and arrested him. The 25-year-old suspect remains in custody, and has been booked into the King County Jail. BPD is not pursuing any other suspects. According to court documents, King County prosecutors have charged Ian Patrick Williams, a college senior studying computer science, with second-degree murder. He has no prior criminal record and is being held on a $2 million bail.

Williams is seen on surveillance video Sunday evening suddenly lunging and stabbing the victim, who has been identified as 29-year-old John Huynh, 45 seconds after Williams allegedly made an obscene gesture at Huynh. According to witnesses, the two had never met before.

BPD has identified 10 witnesses and expects to identify "many others" in the coming days. Diners sitting outside a nearby restaurant witnessed the incident.

According to BPD, Huynh was leaving his apartment with several others, including his wife Rumeet. Williams, who also lived in the apartment building, was standing outside. Witnesses told BPD that Williams "gave the middle finger" to Huynh. Huynh then allegedly asked Williams if he "flipped him off or waved at him." A witness told police that seconds later, "Williams pull out a knife and stab the victim in the heart."

According to BPD, immediately after the stabbing, Williams ran to the apartment he shared with his mother on the third floor of the apartment building. According to court documents, Williams’s mother told police that her son was "very excited and told her an anti-masker had attacked him."

Police located Williams in a bedroom of his apartment with bloody cuts on his hands. Williams told officers a folding knife with a 3-inch blade was in a bathroom nearby. Police believe the knife is the murder weapon.

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $64,000 for Huynh’s widow to pay for funeral expenses.  Police have  not yet stated a motive and would not confirm if the incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime. Williams is being held on $2 million bail.