Stabbing rampage leaves 11 people injured as witnesses describe horror of ‘screams & blood everywhere’ in Salem
ELEVEN people were rushed to hospital after a knifeman launched a bloody stabbing spree at a homeless shelter.
Cops were called to the men’s refuge in Salem, Oregon on Sunday evening, where they arrested a man.
Salem police spokesperson Angela Hedrick said the 11 victims had “varying types of injuries”.
She added that their conditions were unknown as of Sunday night.
The horror unfolded at the Men’s Mission shelter in Salem, run by the Union Gospel Mission.
Emergency services were called at around 7:15pm, and put in place a large cordon – which included a traffic detour.
Executive Director Craig Smith said the suspected attacker was new to the shelter and had stayed there on Saturday night.
He was reportedly preparing to check in for a second night when he got into a fight.
Smith said: “Something … set him off, and he evidently had a knife in his bag.”
Dan Mills, 62, who lives at the mission, said he was working at the front desk when the man came in.
He said other staff were trying to get the man to leave because the building was closed – when things kicked off.
Mills told Statesman Journal: “I just heard a scream. I was standing right at the front desk, I was probably no more than 10 feet away, and he stabbed one of the staff members.”
Bobby Epperly, 48, who also lives at the mission, said he was on the second floor of the building when he saw the man outside screaming at traffic and holding a knife.
When he went downstairs, Epperly said he saw “blood everywhere”.
“It’s like a horror movie,” he added.
And Malik Law said he saw a man stab at least seven people.
He said: “Everybody was basically trying to move out of his way. He started attacking them.”
Smith said the shelter was sharing CCTV with police, and that the “whole incident is on video”.
The director also heaped praise on the emergency services, saying: “They came immediately and transported people.
“It was just a phenomenal and merciful movement of God that they were here.”
The homeless shelter was set up by a Christian group and offers shelter, food and counselling to the roughly 150 people staying there each night.
It is located at 777 Commercial St. NE – just across the street from the Salem police station.