Suspect photo released in stabbing of transgender UW student

Police shared photos of a man they say is a suspect in Sunday's killing of a 19-year-old University of Washington student at an off-campus apartment building.

The death of the teenage student, a transgender woman, in the building's laundry room at Nordheim Court has spurred concern about safety in the student housing. After the woman was found dead, university police asked apartment residents to lock their windows and doors and stay inside for about three hours, while officers searched the area for the suspect.

On Wednesday evening, the Seattle Police Department shared photos of the suspect and described him as a thin man standing about 5-foot-7. No name was released with the photo, and calls and emails to the department seeking more information were not immediately returned.

The man in the photos has rimmed eyeglasses, short hair and a goatee. He's wearing a dark blue long-sleeve shirt and a white-collared shirt underneath.

Anyone seeing the suspect should call 911, according to the police statement. If anyone has information about the person in the photo, they can call the Seattle Police Homicide Tip Line at 206-233-5000.

The death was reported around 10:20 p.m. Sunday in Building 7 at the Nordheim Court apartments in the 5000 block of 25th Avenue Northeast.

Last month, an attempted burglary was reported at Nordheim Court, according to UW spokesperson Victor Balta. The UW Police Department shared that report with Seattle police.

In that instance, a person removed a window screen and leaned into the open window before being seen and told to leave," according to information provided to campus police on April 25. In that case, no weapon was reported.

"If there had been a crime involving an individual with a weapon entering a unit that was verified, it would have prompted a UW Alert message or a Notification of Criminal Incident to the Seattle campus, Balta wrote in an email.

Also on Wednesday, Turning Point USA announced it was postponing a University of Washington event set to feature a speaker who opposes gender-affirming care for minors. In the wake of the killing, advocates had called for a protest of the event by the conservative group and its scheduled speaker, Chloe Cole.

Seattle Times staff reporter Kai Uyehara contributed to this article.

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