Eleven people were hospitalized after being stabbed in a homeless service provider in downtown Salem, Oregon on Sunday evening, police announced.
A suspect was in detention after violence at 7:15 p.m. at Union Gospel Mission, said Salem police spokesperson Angela Hedrick.
The injured were taken to Salem hospital, Hedrick said by e-mail. The details on their injuries were not available and Salem Health, the business parent at Salem hospital, did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Sunday evening.
The suspect was described only as a man and no identity was available.
The incident took place at the male mission of 50,000 square feet of the Union Gospel Mission, which opened its doors in 2021 to a few houses north of the old mission facilities, around 1960, According to the organization. It is in front of the Salem police service.
Executive director Craig Smith said in a telephone interview at the end of the evening on Sunday that the attacker was new in the mission, after spending there on Saturday evening and that he was about to register for a second night when he fought.
“Something … triggered him, and he obviously had a knife in his bag,” said Smith.
The altercation took place just before the man gave his business to the staff, and at least one staff member, who worked the mission registration office, was injured in the attack, Smith said.
The non -profit ministry has been founded by a group of Christian business people and today serves food, offers advice and seeks to house around 150 people each evening, According to his website.
The victims of the Sunday attack found in the establishment’s day room but also outside its walls, said the executive director. Police will be able to see a large part of what happened when they examine the safety video of the installation, said Smith.
“We share videos with them,” he said. “The whole incident is on video.”
