63-year-old Seattle victim of hammer beating says assailant is a lost soul who needs help, not punishment

A 63-year-old woman who survived a beating from a man with a hammer said that the unidentified attacker is a lost soul and that she felt "sorry for the state" the man was in.

An elderly man and woman in Seattle were both beaten with a hammer at the Beacon Hill light rail station. The woman suffered a concussion and three broken ribs, while the man was hit in the head with a hammer and also sent to hospital. The man's wife was also hit with a bag.

The suspect was captured on video walking around wielding a red hammer, the alleged weapon used in the attacks.

“I did not expect him to have a reaction like that,” 63-year-old victim Elvia Salas Buenrostoro told King5. Despite her injuries, the outlet reported that Buenrostoro stated the man, who allegedly threatened to kill her, was a lost soul who needs help.

“I feel very sorry for the state he was in. If this happened to another person, I’d say punish the attacker. No, I don’t have that in my heart because I think that he — I don’t know who he is, who he might be — but I think that he has something very big in his mind or in his heart that made him do this,” she reportedly said in Spanish.

The other victim, Doug Krogel, was bludgeoned on the top of his head with a hammer while trying to stop the attack on Buenrostoro. Krogel and his wife witnessed the attack and stepped in to help.

Once Buenrostoro was able to get away, the attacker turned his attention to Krogel.

Krogel's wife, Betty, was also reportedly struck in the face and torso with a heavy white bag.

A doctor told Krogel he narrowly survived.

“He said anything a little closer to the center of the skull, it would have probably gone through. I got really lucky,” Krogel told the outlet. “I glanced back just for a second to see where the ladies were at, and he clobbered me. He was a lot faster than I thought he was,” Krogel said.

“He was on the attack, and you could see it in his eyes. He wanted somebody and he's looking at me,” the elderly man also recalled.

The senior couple said they hope the attacker is caught.

Krogel was on the way home from chemotherapy treatments at a nearby veteran's hospital when he was hit. He is an Air Force veteran who is battling lung cancer.

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