When Craig Smith visited a member of his staff at the hospital Wednesday morning, the man had recently woken up from a two-day medically induced coma.

“He wasn’t able to speak, but he was really agitated with me,” Smith said to the crowd gathered at the Union Gospel Mission’s chapel on Thursday, June 6, to pray for the survivors, witnesses and community affected by a mass stabbing at the shelter which sent 11 people to the hospital Sunday night.

The staff member kept pointing at something, Smith recalled, getting frustrated with his executive director. Finally, Smith realized that he was asking to be given a nearby marker to write with.

“He wrote this note,” Smith said, pointing to an enlarged version of it printed and displayed at the front of the room. Those gathered let out a collective sigh, some beginning to cry.

The note, scrawled in red pen, said “I love you.”

Smith began to cry himself, recalling the moment. He said he spent ten minutes in the hospital’s lobby trying to compose himself afterward. The staff member, who Smith declined to name for privacy, had pointed at Smith’s UGM name badge after writing it, he said.

“He wants all of you who support us, all of you who are my staff, all of you who serve here as volunteers to know that he’s thinking about you, and he loves you,” he said. 

Tony L. Williams, 42, of Bend, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and 11 counts of second-degree assault after the Sunday night stabbing that turned Salem’s largest homeless shelter into a bloody crime scene. About 100 men sleep in bunk beds, housed 20 to a room in upstairs dormitories at the complex at 777 Commercial St. N.E.

Court records show Williams has been in and out of mental health treatment in Deschutes County for the past several years. Williams appeared in Marion County court on Monday, rambling profanely. He claimed in court that jail staff were pumping gas into his cell and said he acted in self-defense.

Williams first stabbed an employee working the shelter’s front desk, leaving him critically wounded. He then attacked shelter guests and another employee who tried to intervene.

Of the 11 people sent to Salem Hospital after the stabbing, four remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon, according to hospital spokeswoman Lisa Wood. Two of them are in serious condition.

Smith said two of those still in the hospital are employees. Smith announced to the room that both staff members were recovering, and he believed they would survive. That brought applause from those gathered. 

A second staff member had run toward the attack to help, and was stabbed multiple times, Smith said.

“He’s going to survive, and he’s ultimately going to be physically okay, but he’s going to have a long recovery. So please pray,” Smith said. 

Over a hundred people attended to fill the chapel entirely, and the service was also live streamed on a television in the lobby to another crowd.

Those at the prayer service included city and county elected officials, homeless service providers and faith leaders. Smith, through tears, thanked the first responders, including Salem’s police and fire departments, who lined up against a wall of the chapel. They received a standing ovation.

Smith said that the police finished their forensic investigation around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, turning the building back over to the Union Gospel Mission. He said the mission’s staff showed up as soon as they were able.

“5:45 (a.m.), I think it was, I pulled into the back parking area. There were 150 men at tables eating breakfast,” Smith said, drawing applause. “I want you to know this. Not one meal, not one service, not one evening with beds for the guys that we serve, not one service was missed as a result of this attack.”

Thursday’s service included worship songs and a prayer from Pastor Casey Lute of Salem’s Peace Bible Church. Some in the audience lifted their hands up toward the ceiling as they read portions of it together.

“Now we turn to you, O God, in this season of our common distress,” the group prayed.

Smith then asked those gathered to pray, aloud, for specific groups impacted by the stabbing. Each time he named one, murmurs of prayer filled the room.

He asked for prayers for the staff currently healing and who are “deeply shaken,” and for the guests who were injured.

“Pray for all those who witnessed this horrible event. Maybe one of the most traumatic things anyone could ever possibly see,” he said. “Pray for those who witnessed this horrible event that the Lord would heal them, mentally, physically, spiritually.”

He asked the group to pray that they can stand against darkness and continue to share the gospel.

“I want you to pray that this event will bring us together as a community, so that we can be who Jesus has called us to be,” Smith said. “We’ve seen the darkness. We understand it. But we will not back down. We will stand firm.”

After another worship song, Smith returned to the microphone, compelled to ask for one more prayer on behalf of the attacker.

“We pray for the individual who, for whatever reason, decided to come in and attack people on Sunday night. He is a man who desperately needs Jesus. And so Father, instead of anger, instead of frustration, instead of revenge, we declare forgiveness. We declare mercy,” Smith said. “We pray for his salvation. We pray that you would clear his mind, and if he’s demonically possessed, Lord, we pray that you would release him from that possession, whatever it is that caused that.”

RELATED COVERAGE: 

A place to safely rest becomes a Salem crime scene

Bend man accused of stabbing 12 during check-in at Salem Union Gospel Mission

UGM closed Monday morning following stabbing of employee, 10 shelter guests

How Salem Hospital responded to a mass casualty event

Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.

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