An Everett man who stabbed a 13-year-old boy in an unprovoked attack as the student walked to school has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, closing the court case over a January 2025 assault that triggered a K-9 and drone search across North Everett and ended only after a member of the public recognised the suspect from a police bulletin.
Source: My Everett News
Andrew Freeman was sentenced in court on Tuesday, October 27, after being convicted on September 1, 2026, of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon enhancement and a rapid recidivism aggravator, according to My Everett News. KOMO News reported the same 20-year sentence the same day.
Source: KOMO News via SpotOnWashington
The attack: just before 8 a.m. on 25th Street
The attack happened on January 16, 2025, just before 8 a.m., as the 13-year-old student walked to school along 25th Street in North Everett. An adult male, later identified as Freeman, stabbed the boy with a folding pocketknife. Freeman and the victim did not know each other, police said.
The student tried to flee, but Freeman followed him across Broadway and attacked him again, according to the reporting. The boy was transported by the Everett Fire Department to Providence Regional Medical Center in stable condition and survived his wounds. In line with this newsroom's minor-safety rule, the victim is identified here only by age and city.
The hunt: K-9, drones and a public tip
Freeman fled the scene, triggering a significant search using a K-9 track and drones. Investigators collected suspect images from multiple businesses in the area and released them to the public. The following week, a community member recognised Freeman from the bulletin and notified police. He was arrested on January 29, 2025 — thirteen days after the attack.
Why the sentence is so long
Washington law treats first-degree assault — an attack with a weapon intended to cause great bodily harm — as one of its most serious violent offences. Freeman's conviction carried two additions that lengthened the term: a deadly weapon enhancement, and a rapid recidivism aggravator, a finding applied when an offender commits a new serious offence soon after a prior one. Together they put the sentence at 20 years.
Police credited the identification to images gathered from neighbourhood businesses and released publicly — and to the community member who recognised Freeman and called it in. Everett police routinely ask residents and shop owners along school routes to share camera footage quickly after serious incidents.
Background: school-route safety in Everett
The case became one of the most closely followed in Everett because of its randomness: a child, on a weekday morning school route, attacked by a stranger for no known reason. Cases like this one are why districts and police departments in Snohomish County run safe-routes-to-school patrols and encourage students to walk in groups and report suspicious behaviour immediately.
What happens next
With sentencing complete, Freeman begins serving the 20-year term in the Washington state prison system. The victim, now older, survived the attack; no further court proceedings in the case were announced at the time of sentencing.