Westlake Shooting Suspect Committed Crimes In Bellevue, Redmond

BELLEVUE, WA — The man arrested on Monday for a deadly shooting at the Westlake light rail station in Seattle was recently convicted of threatening to shoot a Bellevue teenager during a robbery, an example of "rapidly increasing criminal behavior" in recent years, a King County prosecutor once told a judge.

Bryce A. Hardy, 20, was arrested on Monday at a home along Lake Sammamish Parkway in Bellevue, according to jail records. He is being investigated for shooting three people at the Westlake train station on Friday night. One of the victims, Dawda Corr, 21, died. The shooting happened after a fight between Hardy and two other men on the streets outside the light rail station, Seattle police have said.

Seattle police put out a bulletin about Hardy over the weekend, alerting other local police departments he was wanted in connection to the shooting. Bellevue police were familiar with him because of recent crimes in that city, according to court records.

In September 2018, Hardy grabbed purses from three women sitting at a table at an apartment complex along Northeast 12th Street in Bellevue. The women followed Hardy, and police later arrested him using the Find My iPhone app.

At the time of the purse thefts, Hardy was being prosecuted for breaking into the Aero Rent-A-Car in Redmond and stealing a vehicle. He was also arrested in recent years on other charges, including theft and possession of marijuana.

But it was in early 2019 that Hardy committed his first violent crime, court records show.

On Jan. 21, Hardy and two other Bellevue teens robbed a 14-year-old of a Bluetooth speaker and a cell phone. According to a police report, Hardy told the victim that he "had five seconds to run or he would be shot."

A Bellevue officer noted that the victim was "shaking and stuttering" as he relayed what happened to the police. The victim was hanging out near the Factoria Mall with Hardy and two other teens. One of them took the victim's phone, and the other took the speaker and threatened to stab the victim. That's when Hardy stepped in and threatened the shooting, court records show. The victim took off running.

Hardy was originally arrested on a second-degree robbery charge. But as part of a plea deal, he was convicted on lesser charges: fourth-degree assault and first-degree theft. He was sentenced to time served — he had spent over 100 days in the King County Jail — 12 months of unsupervised probation, and a suspended one-year in jail. He served that sentence concurrently with punishments handed down in the purse snatching and Aero break-in cases.

When Hardy was arrested after the Factoria robbery, he was held on $30,000 bail. But a prosecutor asked the judge to hold Hardy on $100,000 to keep him off the streets.

"[Hardy] has demonstrated he is either unable or unwilling to abstain from criminal behavior," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rhyan C. Anderson told a judge last January. "Based on his rapidly increasing criminal activity and his threatening behavior in this case, the state believes the requested bail amount is appropriate to protect the community and to prevent the defendant from committing more crimes."

A judge granted the higher bail request, but Hardy was released on May 3 after serving 102 days in the King County Jail.