Around 4:30 a.m., police went to the building near 137th Street and Midvale Avenue North. Officers could see a man inside an apartment assaulting a woman with a baseball bat. The officers could not enter the unit because the man had barricaded the door and screwed it shut.

The Seattle police SWAT team was called to the scene, and were able to pull the woman out of a window and to safety. She was injured but not hospitalized. Meanwhile, the attacker found his way into the attic of the building. Police evacuated the entire complex while trying to negotiate with the man.