PORT ANGELES — Bail was set at $250,000 Monday for a Port Angeles man accused of stabbing an 81-year-old woman in the neck.
Tyler Scott Anderson, 39, is being held in the Clallam County jail for investigation of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary.
Port Angeles police alleged that Anderson entered two occupied homes on West 11th Street at about 2 p.m. Sunday and assaulted a woman in her son’s residence at 1637 W. 11th. St.
The 81-year-old victim was found with no pulse in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor, Officer Geraldine Smith said in the affidavit for probable cause. The woman had bruises on her face and a large laceration on her neck, Smith said.
A serrated knife was found in the bathroom, and the door appeared to have been kicked in, Smith said.
“I checked for a pulse and could not feel one and did not observe (the woman) breathing,” Smith wrote in the affidavit.
“I determined that (the woman) was deceased.”
Smith said she heard the woman cough about 10 minutes later and called for medics.
“I ran inside of the residence and observed that (the woman) had rolled onto her back and began to actively bleed from her laceration,” Smith said.
“(The woman) was attempting to breathe and would take large gasps.”
Smith said she applied gauze to the laceration until Port Angeles Fire Department medics arrived.
The woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. A Harborview spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment on the woman’s condition Monday.
Smith was conducting a welfare check at the residence after witnesses reported hearing screaming and doors slamming inside the house.
Anderson was found to be in possession of the woman’s cell phone when he was arrested near the corner of West 13th and South M streets, Smith said.
Anderson also was alleged to have followed a woman into a residence at 1803 W. 11th St.
“Dispatch advised that a male matching (Anderson’s) description had followed a woman home and entered the doorway of her home, where her husband pointed a firearm at the subject and told him to leave,” Smith said in the probable cause statement.
Michele Devlin, Clallam County chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, requested a $250,000 bail for Anderson based on community safety concerns and Anderson’s history of failing to appear in court as directed.
Anderson recently served a 14-month prison sentence on a second-degree robbery conviction, Devlin said. Anderson interrupted Devlin’s presentation during the virtual court hearing.
“I’m so excited,” Anderson said at one point in the hearing. “I have guns.”
Devlin said Anderson’s criminal behavior had escalated in recent years from trespasses to burglaries.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden granted Devlin’s request for Anderson’s bail.
“The crime that he’s alleged to have committed here is a violent crime that gives the court significant concerns about safety to the community,” Basden said.
The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will consider filing formal charges against Anderson at his next court appearance at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.