UGM closed Monday morning following stabbing of employee, 10 shelter guests
Editor’s note: This report includes a graphic image.
A mass stabbing at Salem’s Union Gospel Mission Sunday evening left 10 guests and one employee hospitalized with injuries, according to Mark Hunter, the shelter’s director of community engagement.
All victims survived, Hunter said.
By Monday morning, at least one had been released from the hospital and returned to the shelter’s parking lot.
The Salem Police Department provided few details about the stabbing, including what prompted the attack or whether the suspect was a guest at the shelter.
Officers responded around 7:15 p.m. Sunday to a report that multiple people had been stabbed at the UGM at 777 Commercial St. N.E., which is across the street from the Salem police station.
Eleven victims were taken to Salem Hospital for medical treatment, “each with varying types of injuries,” according to Salem police spokeswoman Angela Hedrick. She said she expected to release more information late Monday morning.
Blood was visible on the shelter’s lobby floor and front desk Monday morning.
The shelter is a faith-based organization which shelters about 160 men on any given night. The three-story 55,000 square foot building opened in 2021.
The building serves as the administrative headquarters for the organization, which also operates a women’s shelter in Keizer.
UGM is typically open 24/7 but was closed Monday morning. Hunter said they hoped to open by dinnertime. Around a dozen people stood in the parking lot around 7:30 a.m. Monday.
Nine of the guests injured were staying at the shelter overnight. One was a member of the New Life Fellowship program, a Christian drug and alcohol recovery program that takes about 18 months to complete.
Hunter said there are typically 160 people staying at the shelter on any given night.
Hedrick said in an email that “the male suspect” was in custody. She did not identify him or the victims.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered the justice system and public safety 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.
