Bellingham bus stop stabbing leads to second-degree attempted murder conviction
A jury has found a Bellingham man guilty of attempted second-degree murder for stabbing a man at a bus stop.
Bennie Demetrius Washington Jr., 25, was arrested June 17, 2025, for attacking his former roommate. Tony Kilbert was at the bus stop at 600 Dupont St. in Bellingham when Washington and 18-year-old Jose-Juarez Montez of Everett walked up to him and began to fight him.
Kilbert said that both men stabbed him and then left the scene. He was taken to the hospital and treated for a fractured vertebra and punctured diaphragm.
Juarez-Montez pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in November and was sentenced to three years in prison. Washington, who was charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, went to trial in Whatcom County Superior Court on Feb. 25.
Jurors found him not guilty of attempted murder in the first degree; instead, they convicted him of attempted murder in the second degree, meaning that the act was not premeditated. They also found Washington guilty of first-degree assault and returned a special verdict that he was armed with a deadly weapon while committing these crimes.
Washington is being held without bail awaiting sentencing, where he faces up to life in prison. A placeholder date for his sentencing has been set for April 16.