On December 21, a Nordstrom employee called the Seattle Police Department complaining that a man was harassing female customers in the store at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street, a police report says. The employee and a witness had observed the man approach female customers. Although they could not hear exactly what the man said, the women "were clearly offended by whatever the suspect was saying to them," the report continues. The pair eventually positioned themselves close enough to overhear the man "tell the woman that she was a 'fine looking bitch.'"

The employee and the woman then approached the suspect and asked him to leave. After the suspect indicated that he would go, he then turned around with a Leatherman tool "with the scissors already out" and attempted to stab one of the women in the face, but she blocked the attack.

As the tool-wielding man was leaving the store, he told both the employee and the woman that "he was going to put them underground into a fiery furnace with all the other women," the report says. He then "proceeded to pull out planted flowers from the pots near the entrance to the store." The report concludes by stating that the suspect was still at large.