South Dakota man charged with fatal stabbing in Pierce County near tattoo business
A South Dakota man is accused of a fatal stabbing that took place near a tattoo shop in Fife on Friday.
Ioane Atonio, 31, has been charged with first-degree murder, court records show. KOMO News reports the victim was a 63-year-old Fife man.
The victim’s name has not been publicly released yet.
Atonio appeared in Pierce County Superior Court for an arraignment Monday afternoon. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set his bail at $1 million, records show.
Charging details
Officers were dispatched at 10:48 a.m. to reports of a stabbing near a bank branch in the 5200 block of Pacific Highway East in Fife. Officers were advised a person was stabbing another man near a tattoo shop, according to charging documents.
The alleged stabber was suspected to be Atonio, who was seen by a witness standing over the victim with a knife, prosecutors wrote. Before officers arrived, they were told that the alleged stabber was running behind a store near 52nd Street with a knife. He was wearing a red hoodie.
Police tracked him down, and he was detained, documents show. Officers allegedly noted blood on his face and hands. A large kitchen knife with blood on it allegedly was found in his pocket. He also had an ID card issued from South Dakota.
Officers found the victim sitting against a wall. There was large amounts of blood on his shirt and pants, prosecutors wrote. He also had a metal pipe in his hand. He was gasping for air and died on route to the hospital.
During the investigation, a restaurant owner said he recognized Atonio because he was a former employee who had been fired two weeks earlier. The owner said the firing was because Atonio became homeless and so could not be working around food, prosecutors wrote. A report indicated the knife that was used in the stabbing matched the knives used at the restaurant.
Another witness told officers he saw two men get into a fight. He said he witnessed a man in a red jacket stabbing a man wearing neon colors, prosecutors wrote.
Through surveillance footage, officers saw a man in the red hoodie attempting to hide a large knife with his sleeve at about 10:42 a.m. Then at about 10:45 a.m., the man came into camera’s view as well as the victim, who was holding a pipe, prosecutors wrote. They both were in fighting stances and the man in red allegedly lunged at the victim.
A video clip allegedly showed Atonio stabbing the victim several times after he fell to the ground. Atonio allegedly was standing over him while the victim had his empty hand up “as if to hold [Atonio] back.” Atonio was allegedly seen in the clip “bringing a large knife down in a violent stabbing motion towards [victim] as he lay on the ground,” documents show.
Video allegedly showed Atonio running off at about 10:53 a.m. Detectives learned the victim went to the back door of a nearby restaurant and tried to get help, but no one heard him, prosecutors wrote.
Records show Atonio has a March 2024 conviction for having a loaded pistol in a vehicle without a permit in King County District Court.
