Suspect in custody after 11 stabbed at Oregon homeless services provider

Eleven people were hospitalized after being stabbed at a homeless services provider in downtown Salem, Oregon, on Sunday night, police said.

A suspect was in custody after the violence at 7:15 p.m. at Union Gospel Mission, Salem police spokeswoman Angela Hedrick said.

The injured were taken to Salem Hospital, Hedrick said by email. Details about their injuries were unavailable and Salem Health, Salem Hospital’s corporate parent, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

The suspect was described only as a man, and no identity was available.

The incident took place at the Union Gospel Mission’s 50,000-square-foot Men’s Mission, which opened in 2021 a few blocks north of the mission’s old, circa-1960s facilities, according to the organization. It’s across the street from the Salem Police Department.

Executive Director Craig Smith said in a late-night interview Sunday that the attacker was new to the mission, having spent Saturday night there, and was about to check in for a second night when he got into a fight.

“Something … set him off, and he evidently had a knife in his bag,” Smith said.

The altercation took place right before the man would have handed over his belongings to staff, and at least one staffer, who was working the mission’s check-in desk, was injured in the attack, Smith said.

The nonprofit ministry was founded by a group of Christian businesspeople and today serves food, offers counseling and seeks to house roughly 150 people each night, according to its website.

Victims of Sunday’s attack found in the facility’s day room but also outside its walls, the executive director said. Police will be able to see much of what happened when they review the facility’s security video, Smith said.

“We’re sharing video with them,” he said. “The whole incident is on video.”