Victim found bleeding in Stars Cabaret parking lot

By Kelsey Watts, KTVZ.COM and news sources

A 45-year-old northeast Bend man was arrested on attempted murder and assault charges Monday night, accused of stabbing a 25-year-old transient several times in the face and neck during a fight at an RV park, police said Tuesday.

Suspect Luis Raymon Guerra used a knife to stab Jacob Lewis Calhoun during an argument around 9:20 p.m. outside Guerra’s home in the Keystone RV Park, at 305 NE Burnside Ave., said Lt. Ben Gregory.

After the assault, Calhoun and a companion walked across Third Street to the parking lot of Stars Cabaret, and police were called, Gregory said.

Calhoun was rushed to St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, with multiple stab wounds and “is expected to survive,” the lieutenant said in a news release.

Evidence and witness statements led police to Guerra’s home, where he was contacted without incident, Gregory said.

Bend fire medics treated Guerra on the scene for a cut to his hand, allegedly received during the altercation with Calhoun, Gregory said.

Guerra was arrested and later taken to the Deschutes County Jail, lodged on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Bail was set at $355,000, a jail officer said.

Bend police served a search warrant shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday on Guerra’s home, where “evidence of the assault was seized,” Gregory added.

Now, friends and neighbors are still shocked, and left wondering why it happened.

"This does not happen here," Keystone RV Park Assistant Manager Kim Holland said Tuesday. "We are a very close-knit community and we look out for each other. And unfortunately, something got out of hand last night."

Neighbors say Guerra came to the trailer next door Monday night, when Calhoun was visiting friends who live there.

Those friends say both men went outside, and started fighting. The next thing they knew, Calhoun had been stabbed, reportedly three times, in the neck and face.

As police were called to where Calhoun lay, and he was rushed to the hospital, Keystone RV managers say Guerra went to the office of the park, with blood on his hands and ear.

"All he said was there was a fight between him and another individual, and so I told him ... we have to call the police," Holland said Tuesday.

About a half-hour after the stabbing, Guerra was arrested at his home.

Police worked through the night, taping off both trailers and collecting evidence, including blood stains on the ground, and smeared on the sides of at least two trailers.

"I was bawling all last night because it was so terrible, so shocking," Holland said.

We've met the victim, Jacob Calhoun, before.

Struggling with homelessness, he was living at a camp south of Bend off China Hat Road back in January 2008, when a church brought out food. Then a few months later, he volunteered along with other homeless men, to do community service work.

Now, sadly, he's in the news once again.

"This did not need to happen - if they had come to us, I don't think it would have gotten as far as it did," said Holland. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to - actually both families, because this has got to be tragic for the suspect's family too."

Bend police continue to investigate, and can't say yet what led up to the stabbing, or what the men may have been fighting about.

Early last year, interviewed by NewsChannel 21 on that frigid night at the homeless camp, Calhoun expressed gratitude for a warm meal brought to the camp by members of Nativity Lutheran Church.

"I try to get by, and these people are helping me out," he said. "And I have great appreciation for these people."