Microsoft employee stabbed by co-worker in planned grisly attack

A Microsoft employee was charged in the attempted murder of a colleague near the tech giant's Washington State campus.

Joseph Richard Cantrell was arrested Thursday and charged one count each of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault after stabbing another Microsoft employee nearly a dozen times at a crosswalk in Redmond, and the victim was suffered a fractured skull and a brain bleed in addition to multiple stab wounds, reported Law & Crime.

“[The victim] said as he started to face back south, he noticed out of the corner of his right eye, the suspect appeared to be walking briskly right up to him shouting," the police report states. "[The victim] suddenly felt himself get stabbed in the right side of his neck then head and then he felt his entire right side of his body get repeatedly stabbed. [The victim] was suddenly knocked down from the unprovoked attack. He told [police] as he landed on his back, the suspect continued to try stabbing him, so he started to fight him off with his feet and hands.”

The victim was found lying on the ground bleeding from his stab wounds, and he told officers that he did not know who had attacked him but said the assailant was shouting "crazy talk."

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Witnesses told police the attack lasted about 10 seconds and provided a description, and officers found a trail of blood leading away from the crime to Cantrell's nearby apartment, and a SWAT team later executed a search warrant and took him into custody without incident.

Police said they found bloodstained clothing matching witness descriptions, along with bloody shoes and several knives that appeared to have been recently cleaned.

Cantrell had recently moved to Washington from Georgia, and police said he did not apparently know the victim but had planned for the attack.

“The defendant appears to have been prepared for this significant act of violence,” prosecutors said in court documents. “He was equipped with a knife and gloves. He assaulted the victim shortly after exiting his apartment building. He then quickly returned to his residence and attempted to get rid of evidence of his involvement.”