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The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the 63-year-old man who died Tuesday from injuries suffered in an unprovoked assault July 10 at the Bellevue Transit Center.
Eric Larson died from blunt force head trauma, and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner said.
Prosecutors said the 25-year-old man accused in the assault, Gabriel Vargas-Garcia, had been released from jail 32 hours earlier after completing a 15-month sentence.
Vargas-Garcia, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was charged July 13 with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault, but the case is now being investigated as a homicide, according to the Bellevue Police Department.
Vargas-Garcia is accused of beating Larson, an amputee who used a wheelchair, for 90 seconds before boarding a bus, according to charging documents.
Police arrested Vargas-Garcia two hours later after receiving a report from a woman who spotted him based on a police description of the assault suspect.