Adopted son of Paso Robles pastor accused of racial stabbing

August 26, 2016
Daniel Brett Rowe

Daniel Brett Rowe

The adopted son of a Paso Robles pastor allegedly stabbed an interracial couple in Olympia, Washington while preparing to confront Black Lives Matters protesters. Daniel Brett Rowe, 32, left his Paso Robles family at the age of 18, moved to Washington, began living off the grid and took on an anti-government lifestyle, his adopted father said. [Tribune]

On Aug. 16, Rowe attacked a 47-year-old black man and a 35-year-old white woman, according to court documents. The couple was drinking at a bar and then went outside to smoke and make out.

After kissing his girlfriend outside the bar, the man suddenly heard her yell. He saw Rowe standing behind her and then felt Rowe stab him in the side, according to court documents.

Rowe fled, but the man managed to trip him into a car, which knocked Rowe unconscious. Both the man and woman survived the stabbing.

While in custody, Rowe told police officers that he had their backs. Rowe also said, if he was released, he was planning on heading to the next Donald Trump rally and stomping out some more Black lives Matters members, according to an affidavit.

Prosecutors have charged Rowe with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of misdemeanor malicious harassment. Rowe has yet to enter a plea in the case.

Rowe, originally from Redding, was adopted at the age of 8 by Rev. Daniel Rowe and his wife. The family moved to Paso Robles in 1998 when the elder Rowe became the head pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church.

The younger Rowe lived in Paso Robles from 1998 to 2002. He attended Paso Robles High School, where he was poised to become a track star, Rev. Rowe said.

In 2002, the younger Rowe left the family and moved to Washington state with a friend and the friend’s father. Rowe was convicted of second-degree robbery in 2008. He then spent three years behind bars in Washington state.

Rev. Rowe said he has not seen his adopted son in 14 years and has not spoke to him in eight years. The pastor said, while they were still in contact, his adopted son would call the family on disposable phones and make anti-government statements. He was sure the government was coming to get him, Rev. Rowe said.

The pastor said his adopted son never showed any signs of racial hatred prior to leaving the family. Rowe has since claimed to be a member of a white supremacist group.


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The crimes allegedly committed by Daniel Rowe are awful and I hope, if found guilty, he is punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am thankful the couple he attacked and stabbed are okay, as much as they can be after such a violent and racist attack. I do have a problem with this article though with regard to the many references to Daniel being adopted. I do not understand what adoption has to do with the crimes committed and why it was necessary to include it in this article. I am wondering if this family wanted to emphasis that Daniel was adopted. And if so, they never should have adopted Daniel.


Well Granny, They included the adoption because of 2 things. Thing number one is genetics and thing number two is early environment.


Daniel sounds like he is mentally ill and has been set off by all of the hate in the media. He likely had a genetic predisposition to mental illness and most likely had some severe trauma during his first 8 years. All of that combined with the hate media left him ripe to explode.


The media is largely responsible for so much the of the immorality in the past decades, and now they are ratcheting up the hate.


To GrayGranny:


Pastor Rowe and his wife have been heart broken by the path their son has taken, and their parishioners and friends already know the full story. Pastor Rowe always refers to his “son”, not his “adopted son”. The reporter in the Tribune kept saying “adopted son” and that’s why you got the impression you did.


Every criminal has a “Mom and Dad” somewhere. Why did this need to be brought forth in this particular situation? This family has had no contact with this obviously unstable lunatic so I fail to see any value in it’s reporting if not to just open an old wound that I’d bet the family already bears and has had to deal with over the years.


This just doesn’t sit right.


The fact that CCN can tie a local man of the cloth into the story, no doubt makes it more newsworthy. Without that, nobody here cares


The Tribune broke this story. They are the ones who just salivate at the idea of calling SLO County both racist and white supremacist. It’s that same old group calling everyone haters and racists and Nazis–including Tom Fulkes, Team Adam Hill, Stephanie and Sandra Deurr and others.