UPDATE 3/29/17
This story has been updated to reflect the suspect’s race. Early reports indicated Julian Tuimauga was of Caucasian decent but he is Pacific Islander (Polynesian). We truly regret the error.
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Since Jan 20., Deshawn Horne of Seattle has been hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Harborview Medical Center fighting for his life after Julian Tuimauga allegedly attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat while using the N-word.
According to the New York Daily News, the attack happened after Tuimauga, 18, found out Horne, 26, spent a night with his sister after a night at the club and became enraged after thinking they slept together.
Horne is a U.S. Postal Worker who had a Friday night off, after meeting the woman in a club, the duo went back to her home where he spent the night. In the morning, she called Horne a Lyft when the driver arrived he backed into the driveway to wait for his passenger.
The Seattle Pilot reports that after a few minutes of idle waiting, Tuimauga approached the driver and asked whom he was waiting for, when the driver said his sister; Tuimauga proceeded to go into the house where he began arguing with Horne who was attempting to get into the car.
Tuimauga then used the bat to hit Horne in the head twice and while assaulting him said, “this is what happens when you bring black people around here”.
The Lyft driver called 911 and pulled a few houses down and watched as Tuimauga hit Horne at least three more times. Tuimauga recorded a video of him attacking Horne, that he later tried to delete, while repeatedly using the N-word. Police found Horne, the father of a 16-month-old boy, bloodied and unconscious in the front yard.
Tuimauga’s has been charged with malicious harassment, the state’s hate-crime charge, as well as first-degree assault. His bail is set at $500,000.
“You just never think it’s going to happen to you or so close to home,” said LaDonna Horne, the victim’s mother to Seattle Times reporters.
Horne has already undergone several procedures, including having part of his skull removed due to the swelling, and faces a long road to recovery. His brother Obediyah Israel set up a GoFundMe page to cover his medical expenses and help provide for his son with a goal of $20,000; they’ve raise $8,700 since Wednesday morning.