A teenager from Seattle was stabbed, beaten and left to die in a random attack, according to Seattle police.
Mel Santiago, 17, has been at Harborview Medical Center ever since the Dec. 27 incident.
Santiago says he was walking home at about 12:30 p.m. when a stranger approached near Renton Avenue South by South Henderson Street and asked him a question. When Santiago brushed it off, he says the man began following and kicking him.
"I said, 'What is your problem? Leave me alone,' and I pushed him back," Santiago said, "As I'm turning around, he swings at my neck."
According to police, the suspect brutally stabbed Santiago in the neck, narrowly missing his carotid artery. Officers noticed the wound was "1 or 2 inches long and very deep." Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but Santiago didn't even realize he had been stabbed.
"At first, I thought it was a punch, but after that punch, I lost control of my body," Santiago explained.
Seattle police say it was a completely unprovoked attack. To make matters worse, they say the man repeatedly kicked the teenager in the head while he was lying motionless on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Two people witnessed the attack and tried to help Santiago, who was conscious and able to call his father. Santiago was nearly home when the attack occurred. His dad tells KIRO 7 his heart dropped when he ran to the scene.
"I felt like I was going to lose my son but I don't want to lose my son," said Dionisio Santiago, "I want to thank those two people who helped my son because if not for them, my son might not be alive."
Detectives arrested Ahmed Abdi-Dahar, 32, in connection to the vicious and unprovoked attack.
The suspect told police that he was trying to kill the victim, he wanted to kill white people, and he wanted to shoot police officers, according to court records. Family members can't believe the teenager was randomly targeted by a suspect who had the intent to kill.
"This could have happened to anybody. He was just waiting," Dionisio Santiago said.
Police say Abdi-Dahar was convicted of assault in 2009 after he tried to slit someone's throat in King County. Now, he's facing several charges in connection to the attack in Seattle.
In court, prosecutors urged the judge to raise Abdi-Dahar's bond, arguing he's an extreme risk to the community.
Cox Media Group
