Still no arrests in downtown Olympia assault following drag show

Olympia police are still trying to identify suspects in a Sept. 4 downtown assault that has been labeled a possible hate crime.

“As of right now, we don’t have anyone under arrest,” said Lt. Paul Lower.

Detectives are reviewing victim and witness interviews, and assessing whether the acquired information will point them to the suspects, said Lower.

A copy of the police report was released this week by the Olympia Police Department, and contains officer reports and written statements by victims and witnesses. However, because the investigation is ongoing, Lower said the report isn’t complete.

He said the description of potential suspects comes from victims and witnesses. Multiple statements describe two suspects: a large, heavyset black man and a thin black man. One witness wrote that the large man wore a gray shirt, while the thin one wore black pants and a black shirt.

The initial report was compiled by an officer who arrived at the scene at 12:34 a.m. Sept. 4 and spoke with victims and witnesses. A number of people had called to report a fight in a parking lot at Fourth Avenue and Franklin Street. Callers said the fight involved as many as 13 people.

The officer wrote that when he arrived, the fight was already over, and the suspects had left the scene.

“While trying to gather information at the scene, victims were hysterical, witnesses were uncooperative, tensions were heightened, and it was difficult to get any answers from anybody regarding what had taken place, where the suspects were, and where the victims were,” the report reads.

At one point, witnesses pointed out a vehicle, and told the officer that the people inside were assault suspects. Officers talked to the three people in the vehicle and determined that they didn’t have anything to do with the assault.

The first victim, a 29-year-old Tacoma woman, told the officer that as she was leaving a charity drag show at the 4th Ave Tavern, the suspects made cat calls at her transgender friend.

She said that after insults were exchanged, the men started assaulting her, and the group she was with. Providence St. Peter Hospital staff told the officer that the victim sustained a broken tooth, consistent with her being punched in the face.

She said her wife, a 33-year-old Tacoma woman, stepped in and told the suspects that her hands were registered as deadly weapons in all 50 states.

The officer then talked to the wife, who said the larger suspect grabbed her around her chest and removed a knife from her bra.

A third woman, 51, reported that she had been struck in the face. She had a small laceration on the left side of her nose that appeared to be from her glasses hitting her face, according to the report.

Police searched the area, but were unable to find the suspects.

Then on Sept. 8, a woman called police and reported that a white man with tattoos was standing outside of Jake’s on 4th threatening to kill the bar’s LGBTQ patrons.

A detective went to contact the 24-year-old Olympia man, and asked whether he was making threatening comments. According to the detective’s report, the man said he always stands outside the bar, and that he wasn’t threatening anyone.

When asked whether he had heard about the assault, the man responded, “What assault? I got into a bunch of fights out here last week,” according to the report.

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Still no arrests in downtown Olympia assault following drag show."