The victim of a random hatchet attack in Dec. 2023 in Federal Way has died, but the suspect is still under competency review, and further charges are pending until after the review is complete.

Noel Esteban, 72, died on Aug. 20, 2024, though his cause of death and manner of death were not specified by the King County Medical Examiner’s office until Oct. 28. Esteban was the victim of a hatchet attack allegedly carried out by Paleti Anikesi Veniale II at Town Square Park in Federal Way on the morning of Dec. 21, 2023, according to documents. Veniale was charged with attempted murder in the first degree.

According to the medical examiner’s report, Esteban’s cause of death was acute bronchopneumonia and multiple blunt-force head injuries, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

The probable cause documents filed in Dec. 2023 said there was a fifty-fifty chance Esteban would survive the attack. According to documents, CT scans showed that Esteban had a deep-penetrating injury to his brain from the hatchet and other serious injuries. Hospital staff relayed that if Esteban had survived, his quality of life would not be the same as before, according to documents.

King County prosecutors charged Veniale on Dec. 29, 2023, with attempted murder in the first degree. However, after his arrest on Feb. 8, 2024, there was a court order for an in-jail competency evaluation, said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the office. On Feb. 28, the court ordered Veniale to undergo inpatient treatment with the Department of Social and Health Services.

Although Esteban has died, McNerthney said that Veniale’s charges cannot be amended until after the issue of competency has been addressed by the court. Once his competency has been addressed, prosecutors can present information from the medical examiner’s office about the death and make a motion to amend charges.

McNerthney said most recently that on Oct. 2, the defense asked the court for a continuance because the defense was training an expert and the defense expert still needed to evaluate the defendant and complete a report. The next hearing scheduled for Nov. 20 at Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent is a competency motion hearing.

See surveillance video of the attack (note: some of the violence has been edited):

How Veniale was found to be the suspect

According to court documents, the incident was caught on camera at Town Square Park.

Before the incident, Veniale can be seen on video footage aboard a King County Metro bus, exiting at the Federal Way Transit Center a short walk away, before he is seen on camera at Town Square Park shortly thereafter. The document also said that the video footage showed Esteban walking at the park while being followed by Veniale, but Esteban did not seem to know he was being followed.

“As they both approached the west side by the parking lot, the suspect, still a short distance behind, produced what later is found to be a hatchet, runs up to Noel, and strikes Noel with that hatchet numerous times as he was standing and as he fell and was lying in the ground,” court documents said. “Noel was observed trying to fight back as the suspect ran off westbound from the location.”

According to the document, Veniale’s jacket and a bloody hatchet were found at the nearby La Quinta hotel, 31611 Pete von Reichbauer Way S. Video footage from a nearby business shows the suspect taking off that jacket, then fleeing the area while wearing a white T-shirt. Next, video footage shows Veniale running across the street and entering a northbound bus away from Federal Way, though his location is unknown after that.

According to documents, the Federal Way Police Department detective who was investigating the assault created a bulletin using photos of Veniale from the bus video footage, which was then sent out to other local law enforcement agencies. The documents said that on Dec. 22, 2023, a Kent officer said he recognized Veniale from the bulletin and recalled multiple instances of Veniale being arrested for felony assault charges and, in one instance, stabbing a random person at a grocery store in Des Moines.

The documents said that Kent police officers apprehended Veniale on Dec. 23, 2023.

According to the Kent Police Department Facebook page, Veniale was shot by Kent officers on Dec. 23, 2023, just before 9:30 a.m. when officers attempted to make contact with Veniale. According to the post, Veniale ran from officers when they attempted to contact him, and during the foot chase, Veniale pulled out a knife and reared it back in a position above his head to stab one of the Kent officers.

According to the post, at the point when Veniale reared back the knife, officers began discharging their firearms. Veniale was then taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. According to the documents, Veniale was approached by the FWPD detective at the hospital four days later, but he said he wanted a lawyer and did not speak with the detective.