Early this morning in Parkland, Washington, a man and his dog were stabbed by an attacker who questioned Eddie Nitschke’s religion.
According to Nitschke, the assailant approached him outside a convenience store and asked what religion he was. After Nitschke identified himself as Christian, the attacker began stabbing him with two knives.
Nitschke instructed his girlfriend to release their dog from the car, and the assailant stabbed the dog as well. Both were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The suspect initially fled but was later found hiding in a nearby neighborhood. Armed with knives, he attempted to attack police officers, prompting law enforcement to open fire. The suspect was shot and killed by authorities.
During his hospital stay, Nitschke discovered he had been diagnosed with lung cancer—a condition doctors had suspected for months—along with a collapsed lung and a blood clot in his brain.
Nitschke recounted the attack: “The man said, ‘You’ve been looking for me for some time.’ I said, ‘I don’t even know you.’” The assailant struck Nitschke multiple times before the dog intervened.
While being treated at the hospital, Nitschke heard police shout “Code red” as they entered an adjacent room where the suspect was being treated. After learning the attacker had died, Nitschke said he felt conflicted: “When I found out that he died, I thought to myself, ‘Oh, he died.’ I felt bad, but then I thought, ‘He just stabbed me.’”