A 78-year-old Maury Island man, hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center after suffering a hatchet attack to his skull and left hand, woke from surgery last week and asked if others, including his alleged attacker — a man undergoing a severe mental health crisis — were OK.

King County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Kevin Torrence, 52, on suspicion of that assault on Tuesday, June 3. Prosecutors say he struck the 78-year-old neighbor, gravely injuring him. (In the criminal justice system, those accused of a crime are considered innocent until proven guilty.)

The injured neighbor was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

But “as soon as he woke up … one of his first questions was: ‘Was anyone else hurt?’,” the man’s daughter said in a phone interview. “He was very concerned about Kevin and making sure he was somewhere safe, not going to be able to hurt anyone else. He was very worried about [Kevin] hurting himself.”

The Beachcomber is not printing their names at this time, at their request for privacy.

“My dad does not have a vengeful bone in his body,” said the daughter, who flew up from her home in southern California to be with her father. “My dad’s not looking for punishment. He wants to make sure that the community, and Kevin himself, are safe and getting the care that he needs. “

Prosecutors on Friday, June 6 charged Torrence with one count of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and a count of unlawful display of a weapon. He was ordered to be held in jail on $100,000 bail, and will be arraigned the morning of June 18. As of the morning of June 10, he remained in custody at the King County Correctional Facility, according to the jail roster.

Just after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, deputies were sent to a reported disturbance in the area north of the Maury Island Marine Park.

According to charging documents, Torrence emerged from his home that afternoon and walked toward a woman, one of the victims in the case, holding a hatchet above his head in a striking position. Another person listed as a victim told her to escape and call 911 while he tried to calm Torrence down. According to the report, though his behavior toward them was threatening, Torrence ultimately did not strike either of those people. He was rambling about paranoid delusions at the time, according to the report.

The third, older victim came to the area to investigate, according to charging documents, and was attacked by Torrence. When a fourth person came over to investigate, wielding a pistol for safety, Torrence stepped toward him with the hatchet and demanded that the man shoot him. However, the man held Torrence at bay with the firearm until Torrence eventually turned around and walked away into the Maury Island Marine Park, according to the police report.

Deputies used Guardian 1, a helicopter, to locate Torrence on the beach and direct deputies on-foot to him. When confronted, Torrence pleaded with them to shoot him and refused to drop his hatchet, according to the sheriff’s report. Two deputies used their tasers, incapacitating him and allowing officers to disarm and detain him.

According to Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Interim Chief Ben Davidson, the 78-year-old victim was taken to Harborview by aid car from the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, with King County Medic One responders accompanying the firefighters on the transfer.

The man underwent hours-long surgery the next day to repair two major skull fractures and have his left hand reconstructed. Surgeons removed parts of his skull and replaced those pieces with metal plates, his daughter said, and rebuilt his hand, from which his pointer finger had been completely separated.

Astoundingly, he is now out of the intensive care unit, has not suffered any secondary brain bleeds, and is starting to regain mobility with his left hand, she said.

His language and memory skills were severely affected at first, but he showed “incredible signs of improvement” over the next 48 hours and has continued improving since, his daughter said.

“He’s got a great care team here,” she said. “The medical staff here at Harborview has been amazing. There are so many different people working on him. … And we are incredibly grateful to the people … that were involved with saving my dad’s life.”

In the meantime, family and friends are helping manage his property on Maury, and maintaining a presence there, she said.

The entire ordeal has been “one of the most profound experiences of my life,” she said. When her dad first came out of surgery, he didn’t recognize his daughter at first.

“He thought I was a very kind nurse, but he was able to tell me all about the island, and the people, and his daughter — which is me,” she said. “And he just kept saying ‘We have to stop hurting each other.’”

Despite everything, her father is in good spirits. He’s been up and walked around the hospital floor a few times.

“He’s in pain, he’s uncomfortable and scared … (but) he’s very eager to come home and get back to life,” she said. “He recognizes that he won’t be riding the riding mower anytime soon, but he’s eager to get back to cooking. He keeps talking about wanting to put together flavors in the kitchen again.”

Reporter Elizabeth Shepherd contributed reporting to this article.