The defendant is accused of intentionally killing an 88-year-old woman in Bellevue and striking two more pedestrians in Tacoma later the same day.
SEATTLE, Wash. — A King County judge ordered a competency examination for a 68-year-old man accused of intentionally killing an 88-year-old woman in a Bellevue YMCA parking lot, pausing the normal early path of a murder case that prosecutors say also involves two later pedestrian strikes in Tacoma.
That ruling put the legal process, not just the violence alleged in court papers, at the center of the case. Prosecutors charged Mark Alexander Adams in the Feb. 28 death of Shinko Oshino and sought $5 million bail, arguing he posed a danger to the community. But the order for a competency evaluation means the court must first address whether Adams can understand the proceedings and assist in his defense before the case can move ahead in the usual way.
The charge grew out of what Bellevue police initially treated as a fatal hit-and-run outside the Bellevue Family YMCA at 14230 Bel-Red Road. Officers were called at about 7:41 a.m. and found Oshino in the lower parking lot. Firefighters attempted lifesaving measures, but she died at the scene from multiple blunt-force injuries, according to public summaries of the probable-cause statement. Prosecutors later upgraded the case into an intentional-homicide allegation after reviewing surveillance footage from YMCA cameras and a Tesla parked in the lot. Those recordings, local reports say, showed a white Toyota Camry entering around 6:45 a.m., circling several times and repeatedly returning to the same stall before the crash.
Investigators say the video did more than place a car at the scene. It supplied the central theory behind the murder charge. At about 7:40 a.m., Oshino was walking south in the lower lot when the Camry pulled out, adjusted slightly to align with her route and accelerated into her, according to the charging narrative summarized by local media. She was carried roughly 120 feet on the hood before the car braked. When she fell to the pavement, prosecutors say, the Camry accelerated again and drove over her without stopping. Witnesses told police the car appeared to be moving fast, and one said he first thought the figure falling from the hood was not real. In public reporting, prosecutors described the vehicle as having been used “as a weapon.”
The legal stakes rose because Bellevue was only part of the day’s allegations. Court records summarized by local outlets say Adams later drove to Tacoma, where he was tied to two separate hit-and-run incidents at about 10 a.m. and 12:38 p.m. In one, a skateboarder said the driver matched his speed before hitting him as he tried to get out of the roadway. In the other, surveillance video allegedly showed the Camry circling a gas station, appearing to move toward a truck driver, then striking a different pedestrian from behind. That victim suffered a spinal fracture, according to public reports, and the vehicle was said to have reversed toward him before he rolled clear. Those allegations have not only widened the factual story; they have strengthened the prosecution’s public argument that the case involves continuing danger rather than a single isolated event.
By the time of Adams’ arrest on March 1 in Port Townsend, investigators had assembled a chain of evidence that included the Camry’s license plate, witness accounts and cellphone location data placing him at the YMCA, in Auburn and near the Tacoma crash scenes, according to local reporting. Prosecutors asked for conditions barring contact with Oshino’s family, members of the Bellevue YMCA and the property itself. Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said the allegations were devastating for the victim’s family and serious enough to justify the high bail request. Public accounts have also pointed to earlier mental-health and court history involving Adams, which helps explain why competency became an issue so quickly after arraignment.
What remains unresolved is not small. No public court summary reviewed by local outlets has identified a motive. It is also unclear whether prosecutors will file additional charges tied to Tacoma, whether the competency evaluation will delay the case for weeks or longer, and how the court will handle the divide in some reporting over whether the homicide count is described as first-degree or second-degree murder. Those discrepancies reflect different outlet characterizations of the early filings, but all reported the same core allegation: that the crash was deliberate. For Oshino’s family, the court process now runs on two tracks at once, one focused on accountability for her death and the other on whether the defendant is legally fit to face the case.
The next major public marker was the post-arraignment hearing schedule, with the competency process expected to shape how quickly the murder case can proceed from charging to trial preparation.
Author note: Last updated April 1, 2026.