The premier news source for Snohomish County

MUKILTEO—The Lynnwood Times followed up with State Representative Republican candidate Riaz Khan on how he is coping following what he claims was an attack by two politically and racially motivated individuals during the early morning of Tuesday, October 29 at the intersection of Goat Trail Road and Mukilteo Speedway. The Lynnwood Times also obtained 911 phone records, police reports, body camera footage, and contentious emails between Khan and a campaign manager, that provides a lot more insight into that fateful night Khan called, “an assassination attempt” on his life.

Khan wanted readers to know that he is experiencing tremendous shoulder and back pain but he is grateful for the community support and proud to see his hashtag #westandwithriazkhan gaining traction. When the Lynnwood Times revisited the sequence of events with Khan’s account of the morning of October 29, some inconsistencies stood out.

During our initial interview, Khan informed the Lynnwood Times he was driving around Mukilteo recently to catch the perpetrators who were allegedly been taking down his election signs, which is why, he said, he was in the area at the time of the incident, with a hammer no less.

The police report states that Officer Brent Lee with the Mukilteo Police Department responded to Khan’s 911 call on the corner of Goat Trail Road and Mukilteo Speedway just a little after 2:00 a.m. last Tuesday.

In police body camera footage acquired by the Lynnwood Times, Khan was asked by Officer Lee if he would like to press charges, but Khan responded that he would only make a report of the incident.

Officer Lee then proceeded to survey the area, on Mukilteo Speedway from Washington to Goat Trail Road. The Officer responded to the scene just over a minute after Khan’s 911 call but despite the hasty response, could still not locate a suspect in the direction Khan claimed they fled.

According to the LexisNexis Community Crime Map, an interactive crime map used by most police agencies in Snohomish County, the only crimes recorded taking place around the intersection Khan claimed to be assaulted, in the last four years, have been traffic collisions. However, one incident of vandalism and two incidents of theft were recorded at nearby streets.

Back at the scene, Khan was asked for a description of the suspects in which he described them as two males, probably around their 40’s, one tall, one short. When asked what they were wearing he said one was wearing long pants, and the other was wearing short pants, but when asked which was wearing which he had trouble remembering.

However, during Khan’s initial 911 call, a recording of which was acquired by the Lynnwood Times, he told the 911 dispatcher that the description of his assailants was “one old guy and one young guy.” When asked what they were wearing he said “hoodies.”

During Khan’s initial interview with the Lynnwood Times, he described one of them as having a goatee. In a follow up interview with Khan, held on Tuesday, November 5, Khan was asked if his assailants were around the same age and he said yes, despite telling the 911 dispatchers one was “young,” and the other was “old.”

Khan told the officers that they struck him with a stick but when asked what kind of stick he initially couldn’t remember until an officer asked if it was more similar to a “baseball bat” or a “tree branch.” Khan then thought one of the suspects used a tree branch. He didn’t mention what kind of stick the other suspect was using.

When interviewed by the Lynnwood Times, Khan mentioned the assailants used “wooden stakes” often used for political campaign signs, not tree branches. He also told the Lynnwood Times he believed the incident to be “politically motivated” and a “hate crime” and he speculated the two assailants to be the ones responsible for removing his campaign signs.

During a follow up interview with the Lynnwood Times, Khan said he could not remember what kind of sticks were used because “it was raining.”

He also told officers that just one of the suspects hit him, despite mentioning seconds earlier that both were carrying sticks. He couldn’t say which suspect, the tall one or the short one, hit him.

In an interview with the Lynnwood Times Khan said both of his assailants attacked him.

Khan told the officers that the suspects called him a “son of a bitch” but when interviewed by the Lynnwood Times Khan mentioned the suspects called him a “f*cking foreigner” and a “f*cking Trump supporter.”

During that interview Khan mentioned his two assailants yelled at him after getting out of their car, as they approached him, but he ignored them. During a follow up interview, he said his assailants did not say anything before they attacked.

After asking Khan where exactly the alleged assault took place, the Mukilteo police officers investigated the scene on the corner of Goat Trail Road where they did see a Riaz Khan campaign sign but saw no indication of the hammer Khan said he dropped. They did, however, find a stick – about two feet long and one inch thick – but when they asked Khan to verify whether it was the stick used in his attack he said, “I can’t remember.”

The officers also noticed that strong winds had knocked down quite a few campaign signs on the road and asked Khan if it could be possible that wind had knocked down his campaign signs instead of someone removing them. Khan said this was not possible.

Khan told the Lynnwood Times, during an interview, that he warded off his assailants with the hammer which he did not mention to the police. He also told the officers that he dropped his hammer that night but when the officers weren’t able to locate it, he mentioned that it was in his car.  

Officers asked if he needed medical attention twice, but Khan declined. He did not answer their question whether he was in pain. The next day he did seek medical attention at Swedish Providence in Edmonds, he told the Lynnwood Times, where he received an MRI scan and was told by a doctor that he had back swelling.

Also despite Khan’s struggle to recall a description other than “White,” “forties,” “one tall, one short,” “one had long pants, one had short pants,” and “they were wearing hoodies,” and Khan earlier mentioning that he couldn’t provide any more detailed descriptions other that what he already said because he was “struck in the back,” he told officers that he would be able to identify the suspects if he saw them.

In Khan’s written statement to police, he signed an acknowledgment that making a false claim is illegal.

The officer did notice some dark marks on Khan’s sweater but admitted he didn’t know if it was lint or something else. When Khan lifted his shirt to show the bruises, the officer could not see anything.

In a photo of the injuries to Khan’s back taken by the Lynnwood Times, less than 12 hours after the alleged assault, there was a visible redness on his back.

Khan was arrested back in July for a domestic violence incident involving his wife Ayesha Khan, but that case has since been dropped.

Khan told officers that the suspects left in a vehicle, however during the 911 call he told the dispatcher the suspects fled on foot.

According to a reader, who asked to remain anonymous, The Khans told a family friend the morning after the alleged incident that wife Ayesha Khan was present in the vehicle with him on the night of the assault. But according to the police-worn body camera, Ayesha was nowhere to be seen.

Khan informed the Lynnwood Times that his wife was home at the time of the incident, sleeping.

According to the anonymous tip, Ayesha Khan told them the assailants fled in a dark blue Ford pickup truck from the scene. During our follow up interview, we asked Khan for the description of the assailant’s vehicle, but he was unable to recall, mentioning it was raining and couldn’t see well, despite saying he recognized the vehicle at the Waterfront and suspected it followed him.

A Lynnwood Times tipster claimed Khan said he was fighting for his life in a hospital bed at Evergreen Hospital despite the police officers’ observations and documenting Khan’s injuries to be minor and him refusing medical attention.

Khan is running for Washington State Representative for the 21st District as a Republican. He denied that the alleged assault was a campaign stunt.

Khan, formerly a Democrat, swapped to the Republican party around the time of registering for the race to represent the 21st Legislative District against Strom Peterson, a Democrat. One of Khan’s platform priorities has been public safety since announcing his bid.

During the Primary Elections Riaz Khan ranked below his opponent Strom Peterson by about 25 points.

Khan told the Lynnwood Times that he believed his attack was an “assassination attempt,” because his assailants initially targeted his head before he turned his back to them and ducked.

Former President Donald Trump, who Khan supports, survived an assassination attempt on July 13.

Just 12 days before the alleged attack on Khan, local Republican Carolyn Strong sent out an email to fellow Republican voters with her recommendations, leaving the 21st Legislative District blank, to Khan’s disapproval in heated email exchanges. Strong has been active in Edmonds and Mukilteo politics for years. Being an experienced campaign manager for both Republican and Democratic candidates, many residents respect Strong’s recommendations for elected office.

Khan, who acquired Strong’s email somehow, noticed that he was not being recommended and confronted Strong before accusing her of defamation and removing his campaign signs.

“The guy is threatening other Republicans with no basis simply because I sent out an email to my friends with my recommendations,” said Strong. “It’s just a Jussie Smollett thing in my mind.”

Smollett, who is gay and Black, claimed that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack outside of his Chicago apartment. Police investigated the incident as a hate crime but concluded that Smollett had organized the attack for publicity.

After our initial coverage of Khan’s alleged assault, in which we sat down with him to learn the details of his alleged assault, Lynnwood Times readers took to the website’s comment section to leave their thoughts.

A user, who used the initials CM, said “Anyone who believes this story is a fool.”

Another user, by the name of Joe M, said “I’ll take the things that never happened for $800.”

A user by the name of JT wrote “So there is somebody running around out there who hates immigrants and Trump supporters? Someone was such amazing eyesight that at 2 AM, they were able to clearly identify him as an immigrant and identify him as a Trump supporter? This is the most unbelievable story I have heard to date.”

And yet another user, by the name of DFlew, wrote “imagine a Republican lying to get votes.”

In an official press release published by the Mukilteo Police Department, they noted the lack of surveillance on this road, paired with not being able to identify a suspect, makes gathering evidence difficult. The Mukilteo Police said they’ll have to use more “time-consuming” and “creative” ways of gathering information and have resorted to partnering with federal agencies on the matter.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also announced they were getting involved.

Editor’s note: The article originally stated that Carolyn Strong was the campaign manager for Jason Moon in error. This has been removed from the article [5:33 p.m., November 5, 2024]

Author: Kienan Briscoe