After a night of drinking on the river at Wallace Marine Park, a man accused homeless people at a nearby encampment of stealing his handgun and knife, holding one man at gunpoint before wounding him and killing another man in a shooting, according to a police report.
The suspect and a friend passed out on the Willamette River bank the night of April 3 and later woke up to find a bag with the weapons inside was missing. He went to his northeast Salem home and returned to the park around 3 a.m. the next morning with a shotgun and pistol, threatening to kill residents of the camp, the report said.
Witnesses told police they tried to de-escalate the gunman before at least one resident charged him with a knife and was shot to death.
Prosecutors charged Arlie C. Thompson, 23, of Salem, on Monday in Polk County Circuit Court with second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
The charges allege that Thompson killed Charley A. Hodges, 29, and injured a 25-year-old man in the shooting in the north end of Wallace Marine Park, court records showed.
The deadly episode shattered the community of homeless people who stay in an unmanaged camp at the park.
This account is based on a Salem Police Department affidavit.
During the evening hours before dark on April 3, witnesses living at the homeless encampment heard a gunshot from the river bank near the camp.
They arrived to find two men “getting drunk together,” according to the affidavit. One of the men was later identified as the suspect.
One witness was interested in buying the gun from them, but they didn’t want to sell it.
The two men drinking later fell asleep. When they woke up, the suspect was missing a backpack which contained a .45 caliber pistol and a fixed-blade knife.
The men went looking for the weapons at the Wallace Park camp. One of the witnesses who had approached them earlier allowed them to search his own belongings to show he didn’t take the bag. The witness offered to contact them later if he found the items.
Hours later, one of the men returned and ordered another camp resident out of his tent, holding a pistol to his head.
The suspect, now with a shotgun slung over his neck and a pistol tucked in his waistband, told the man that someone had stolen his other pistol and knives, and he wanted them back.
Witnesses tried to negotiate with the suspect and calm him down as he held the man at gunpoint and “marched him around the camp, searching through the tents,” according to the affidavit. The kidnapped man was cooperative and tried to help the suspect find the gun.
Hodges, who was later killed, also spoke to the suspect but did so “more aggressively.” He told the suspect to stop being disrespectful.
Witnesses heard the suspect repeatedly say he was going to kill someone at the camp because his gun had been stolen.
Other camp residents who heard the commotion peered out of their tents. Another man who stayed in a tent with his wife and daughter armed himself with a tomahawk and a knife.
Hodges eventually shouted something to the effect of, “You threatened my family, now I have to kill you.”
Hodges charged at the suspect while holding a knife in each hand and thrust one toward the gunman’s abdomen. One witness also saw the kidnapped man charge the gunman.
The suspect backed into berry bushes and threatened to shoot before gunning down both men.
Hodges fell and did not get back up. The other man suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
The gunman fled the park as two witnesses chased him. One threw the hatchet he’d grabbed earlier but missed the suspect.
One camp resident told another to call 911.
Meanwhile, Hodges laid on the park path, bleeding from his head.
The surviving victim, thinking he might lose consciousness, walked out onto a nearby road where he was found by Salem police officers.
The park was closed for several hours while police investigated the shooting but was reopened later the same day.
No one camping there was asked to leave, according to Salem police spokeswoman Angela Hedrick.
Just over 12 hours after the shooting, a SWAT team searched Thompson’s home on Northeast Northstar Court near Hayesville and arrested him.
More court proceedings are scheduled for April 15.
A GoFundMe is available to raise money for Hodges’ funeral expenses and to help loved ones travel to the ceremony.
A city report in November analyzing shootings in Salem showed more unsheltered people were victims of gun violence in the last three years than in previous years.
They made up less than 3% of victims from 2018 to 2020, but that number jumped to nearly 20% of victims between 2021 and 2023. Meanwhile, there was no significant increase in the share of homeless people who were suspects in gun crimes.
RELATED COVERAGE:
Salem man arrested for Wallace Marine Park shooting after SWAT search
Deadly shooting devastates homeless community at Wallace Marine Park; details remain slim
No arrests after Wallace Marine Park confrontation ends in fatal shooting
UPDATE: 1 man dead, another wounded in early morning shooting at Wallace Marine Park
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
