Alleged white supremacist in Washington stabbing once lived in Paso Robles

A Washington state man who allegedly stabbed an interracial couple outside an Olympia nightclub and later claimed to be a member of a white supremacist group spent his teen years in Paso Robles, where his adopted father said Wednesday he never showed signs of racial hatred.

Daniel Brett Rowe, 32, told investigators following the Aug. 16 attack that he came upon the man and woman while traveling downtown to confront members of the Black Lives Matter movement, which he blamed for anti-police graffiti recently sprayed in downtown Olympia, according to court documents.

While in custody, he allegedly told police he “had (their) backs” and that if he were released, he “planned on heading down to the next Donald Trump rally and stomping out more” Black Lives Matter members, according to an affidavit from the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

His adopted father, also named Daniel Rowe, is head pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Paso Robles, where the younger Rowe lived from 1998 to 2002. On Wednesday, the Rev. Rowe said he hasn’t seen his adopted son in 14 years, and despite the alleged “pro-police” statements, in recent years he had made anti-government statements in phone calls to the family.

“He would call and would say such bizarre things. I just couldn’t talk to him,” the elder Rowe said. “He was sure the government was coming to get him.”

On Aug. 17, prosecutors filed two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of misdemeanor malicious harassment against the younger Rowe. He appeared in court the same day via video with his attorney, Christian Cabrera, but did not enter a plea. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Cabrera did not respond to several requests for comment.

Court documents reveal the couple — a 47-year-old black man and a 35-year-old white woman — were drinking at a bar and went outside to smoke and make out. The man heard his girlfriend suddenly yell as if hit by something. He saw Rowe standing behind her and then felt Rowe stab him in the side.

Rowe fled, but the male victim was able to trip him into a car, knocking him unconscious. The victims’ wounds weren’t life-threatening.

Rowe, originally from Redding, was adopted by the Rev. Rowe and his wife when he was 8 years old. The family moved to Paso Robles when the elder Rowe took the pastor position at Trinity Church in 1998.

The teen stayed out of trouble, the pastor said, and at one point was poised to become a star Paso Robles High School track and field athlete.

In 2002, when he was 18, the younger Rowe left the family and moved to Washington state with a friend and the friend’s father, the elder Rowe said. When he last spoke to him eight years ago, his son had become involved in an anti-government lifestyle, he said, living off the grid and calling the Rowe family on disposable phones.

Rowe does not have a local criminal record. He was convicted of second-degree robbery in November 2008 and served three years in several facilities, including Washington State Penitentiary, according to the Washington Department of Corrections.

“I feel sorry for him. Is it hate, or is he mentally not there? I just can’t comprehend,” the elder Rowe said. “The thing with hate is, you only have to start hating just a little bit, and over time it just grows.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Alleged white supremacist in Washington stabbing once lived in Paso Robles."