SHINE — The Renton Police Department was asking the public Wednesday for information about a 20-year-old New Jersey man who was wanted for first-degree murder and who was identified as the shooter who took his own life after firing at two vehicles early Tuesday morning on the Hood Canal Bridge.
Krishna Mahadevan-Prasad, 20, was wanted by the Renton Police Department in the “brutal murder” of a 38-year-old Bellevue woman who was found dead in a Renton motel Monday, Renton Police said in a news release.
Trooper Chelsea Hodgson of the State Patrol said that Mahadevan-Prasad was stopped at about 3:30 a.m. on eastbound state Highway 104 at the west end of the bridge, which was closed for evening maintenance. He was traveling in a black Honda Accord and armed with a rifle and shotgun.
Gunfire erupted at 3:42 a.m. One person was injured.
Hodgson said Mahadevan-Prasad used both the rifle and the shotgun during the shooting. She said the Renton Police Department is fielding questions related to the murder.
Updated – Photos of suspect & vehicle from homicide – see attached press release and photos for reference-Renton PD seeking assistance on suspects activities from homicide until his death. If you have information, please call Det. Renggli @ 425-430-7525, ref Case 18-9012/sh pic.twitter.com/YnuZH2FZwd
— Renton Police Dept. (@RentonpdWA) July 25, 2018
Police arrived at a Renton hotel at 2 p.m. Monday to discover a woman had suffered numerous cut wounds to the body and what appeared to be intentional mutilation after death.
Cmdr. David Leibman of the Renton Police Department said that because of the condition the woman’s body was found in, police are concerned Mahadevan-Prasad might have committed other violent crimes.
“He mutilated the body post-mortem, and that’s something we typically don’t see,” he said. “That’s more indicative of someone who has had the ability to do this before. We want to make sure we’re not missing unidentified victims.”
He said there isn’t any known relationship between Mahadevan-Prasad and the victim, who he said police are not yet identifying publicly.
Mahadevan-Prasad was a Private 2nd Class assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, according to the military.
He joined the Army from his hometown of Woodridge, N.J. in September 2017 and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, on July 10.
Detectives were trying to determine his whereabouts Tuesday when they learned from the State Patrol that Mahadevan-Prasad had killed himself at the Hood Canal Bridge.
Leibman said police are unsure why Mahadevan-Prasad was on the Olympic Peninsula and that they don’t know the motive for the killing of the woman in Renton or the shooting at the Hood Canal Bridge.
“None whatsoever,” he said when asked about a known motive. “With the behavior at both scenes, there’s no rational explanation that we know of at this time.”
He is asking the public to call the Renton Police Department if they have any information about Mahadevan-Prasad. He is associated with a 1995 Honda Accord wagon with New Jersey license plates.
“With his military history, he hasn’t been in the area long and we do not know of any connection he would have with the Peninsula area at all,” he said.
Michael Brooks of Port Angeles, a guard at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, was driving his two daughters, 5 and 7, to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport so they could fly home to Ohio where they live with their mother. The children were asleep when the gunfire erupted.
Brooks had leaned over to check a map on his phone when a bullet shot through the headrest of his seat.
A 30-year-old driver of another car sustained a glancing gunshot wound to the elbow, Hodgson said, adding that the person, who has not been identified, was treated and cleared by aid at the scene of the shootings.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Renton police at 425-430-7573.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.