According to Redmond police, a man was stabbed in downtown Redmond on March 14, leading to a brief “shelter in place” order.

About 4:55 p.m., a man with stab wounds walked into the offices of Housing Works, 405 SW 6th in Redmond. Emergency responders took one victim to St. Charles Hospital, Bend. On March 18, police lieutenant Eric Beckwith said the victim is improving at the hospital. 

According to Beckwith, no suspect is in custody. A knife was found at the scene, according to police.

Beckwith said police are seeking anyone who may have witnessed an altercation between two people around the time of the stabbing. He said the altercation may have in the alleyway between SW Evergreen Avenue and SW Deschutes Avenue east of SW 7th Street. 

Shelly Stewart, co-owner of Two Gifty Girls downtown, said she was unaware of anything happening shortly after police and emergency personnel responded downtown at around 4:55 p.m. on March 14. Stewart said she first heard an ambulance up sixth street, but didn’t think much of it.

At about 5:30, Stewart said she was expecting her grandson, but he never showed up.

“I ended up going out in the back parking lot, to look for him, and I watched him drive by, my grandson, and he goes, ‘Grandma, I can’t get in,’” Stewart said. “And I look down and there are police cars everywhere. This is the first I knew of anything. This is 5:30.”

Stewart said when she looked out back she noticed police had blocked both ends of the alley behind her shop at 443 SW Sixth Street. Soon after, Stewart went across the street to attend a pasta making class when she got a call on her phone.

“Then my daughter calls, ‘Umm, you are supposed to be sheltering in place.’ Then I look across and there is tape all down the block, ‘Police line do not cross’, so I wouldn’t have been able to come back in through my front building,” Stewart said.

Stewart said she came back from across the street after 7 p.m. and police officers were going door to door asking business owners for security camera footage. She said she was also asked for footage, but only had footage from the back of the store which did not show any activity during the relevant time period.

She said at some point during the ordeal, an ambulance slowly drove by her shop which made her think that perhaps the situation was not so serious.

“The ambulance didn’t roar out of here, it just slowly crept through and went by,” Stewart said.

Just across the street at Herringbone Books, the bookstore’s owner, Brandon Weimer, was busy setting up for his book club meeting at 6 p.m. Somewhere around 4:30 or 5 p.m. he recalled seeing a firetruck and an ambulance pull up near the Housing Works building on the other side of the street. He said he remembered seeing the emergency personnel activity at the second Housing Works entrance closest to the intersection.

“I used to be a paramedic so I am not much of a gawker. I’ve seen that, I’ve been there. I was like, ‘Maybe it’s just a medical emergency,’” Weimer said. “I looked through the window, it looked like they had a gurney, there wasn’t anyone on it, because it looked like they were going into the building, and that was it.”

Not too phased by the spectacle, Weimer continued preparing for his book club members. He eventually went down the street to buy a bottle of wine for the club meeting, and bumped into a shop owner from across the street who informed him there was a stabbing. Then he noticed crime scene tape up and down the block on the other side of the street. Weimer then went back to his book club.

“I saw an officer coming up to the door, and he just asked if we had any footage, and I said, ‘I don’t,” Weimer said.

Anyone with information should contact Detective Ben Halsey at non-emergency dispatch at 541-693-6911.