Timmothy Nelson had been carrying it around for days: The picture of Richard Sitzlack that Seattle Police had given Metro Bus Drivers so they could be on the lookout. It was three days and a few hours since a tragedy rocked their collective world. One of their own, operator Shawn Yim was stabbed to death early in the morning near the University of Washington.
“Whether they knew him personally or not, it felt by everybody and it doesn’t compare to his family but among our coworkers, it’s been really hard,” Nelson said.
Nelson did know Shawn. For several months when he was without a car, he’d ride Shawn’s bus to work at the base they were centered at.
“He was always really nice, he was always good with a joke or quip or something like that and was just really caring,” Nelson said.
He remembers Shawn giving him grief for working the overnight shift on the E-line, the bus line that goes north and south on Aurora Avenue, the same bus line where Sitzlack got on Nelson’s bus early Saturday morning before being arrested by Seattle Police.