On Saturday evening, a deadly shooting broke out at an emergency shelter for the unhoused in Salem, Oregon. As a result, eleven people received large stab wounds. The attack took place around 7:15 PM local time at a 50,000 square-foot facility operated by the Union Gospel Mission, which has been serving the community since its opening in 2021.
The shelter empowers men, women, and children to overcome homelessness through Christian guidance and counseling. Earlier this year, it relocated to a new facility just blocks away from Salem’s Downtown District, directly across from the Salem Police Department. On the attack night, the attacker had only just checked into the shelter. He’d spent the previous night there, making him a relative new arrival to the facility.
According to witnesses, the shelter was a scene of utter chaos. Bobby Epperly, a resident who witnessed the crash, remembered, “There was blood all over the place. The attack was a multi-victim incident, including a female employee on duty at the airline’s check-in counter. Local first responders quickly got the wounded to area hospitals, where they were treated for a range of injuries, some critical.
Craig Smith, executive director of Union Gospel Mission, addressed the incident, stating, “Something … set him off, and he evidently had a knife in his bag.” This assertion, among other things, shows how sudden the nature of the attack truly was. It further raises serious and important questions about the safety of the facility’s protocols.
Union Gospel Mission operates a shelter for up to 150 people on a given night. These Christian activists concentrate on setting these men and women free from the bondage of homelessness through Christ-centered programming. A collection of like-minded Christian businesspeople started the organization. Now, it’s an indispensable part of Salem’s battle against homelessness.
The situation has raised alarm from community members about the safety of such overnight shelters. More importantly, I hope it has illuminated the daunting task in front of organizations trying to provide safe harbor for vulnerable populations.