Bellingham resident allegedly stabbed by homeless man he finds showering in his home
A Bellingham resident was hospitalized with a stab wound after he and another man returned to his Sehome neighborhood home and found a naked homeless man showering in his bathroom.
Richard Paul Moore, 54, was booked into Whatcom County Jail Sunday, Dec. 7, on suspicion of first-degree assault, and felony harassment, and jail records show he is being held in lieu of $35,000 bail.
Bellingham Police were called at approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday to the 1100 block of Billy Frank Jr. Street after the two victims returned to the first victim’s residence and heard the shower running, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald. Knowing nobody should have been in the bathroom showering, the victims knocked, Murphy said, and when nobody answered, they unlocked the door using a paperclip.
It was then that the door swung open and Moore stabbed the first victim in the abdomen, Murphy said. The victim fell to the ground, and Moore reportedly made a swinging motion at the second victim like he was going to slash him.
The victims fled downstairs so that the second victim could take the first to the hospital for treatment for the stab wound. After they left, Murphy said Moore, still completely naked, ran out a side door and headed toward East Chestnut and Ellis streets.
Officers found Moore minutes later in an apartment building wrapped in a plastic bag, and the victims identified him as their attacker, Murphy said.
The first victim received about a quarter-sized wound to his abdomen and remained at the hospital to ensure he did not suffer a perforated bowel, Murphy said.
