UPDATE: Police ID suspect in Washington County stabbing rampage that killed 1, hurt 3
Updated 8:05 PM;Today 11:39 AM
UPDATED 7:44 p.m.
A 20-year-old man fatally stabbed a customer at a bank in a bustling Beaverton shopping center and wounded three other people during a bloody crime spree Wednesday morning that included two carjackings, authorities said.
What began as a reported robbery quickly turned deadly when the suspect slashed two women inside the Wells Fargo branch at the Murrayhill Marketplace, police said.
He then tried to make a getaway by stealing two cars, attacking the drivers inside each, police said.
His rampage ended several miles away when he ditched the second car and led officers on a foot chase through Tigard before police caught him.
Salvador Martinez-Romero was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and first-degree robbery, Beaverton police said.
Hours later, investigators were working to piece together the horrific episode that occurred a week before Christmas.
Beaverton Police Chief Ronda Groshong declined to provide additional details, including the names the four victims.
Denny Doyle, the city’s mayor, echoed the shock and sorrow felt by many in the area.
“Situations of this magnitude are alarming and unsettling, especially in a tight-knit community like Beaverton,” he said during a press conference. “I’m sad that I have to join my fellow mayors around the country who’ve experienced tragedy first-hand.”
The melee began at the Murrayhill Marketplace, a retail destination and de-facto town square for hundreds who live in apartment complexes and quiet residential blocks surrounding it in suburban Washington County.
Martinez-Romero walked into the shopping center’s Wells Fargo just before 11 a.m., police said. During an attempted robbery, he stabbed two women inside the bank, killing one of them, according to police.
He later slashed a man in the parking lot who was heading to a nearby Planet Fitness and took off in the man’s car as police swarmed the area, witnesses and authorities said.
Dillon Prickett said he pulled up to Insomnia Coffee Co., which is next door to Wells Fargo, and saw officers rushing into the bank. A female employee was holding the door open for the officers.
“She looked at me and she was crying," Prickett told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "All of the mascara was coming down her face.”
Prickett, a 35-year-old Aloha man, later saw a badly injured woman being brought out of the bank on a stretcher.
“She had so much bandaging on her face, it looked like an airplane pillow,” he said.
The woman was loaded into an ambulance and taken away.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said the woman killed in the attack was a bank customer. Police said the other woman was in critical condition.
Ken Wilson said he was at the Planet Fitness two doors down from the bank about 11:05 a.m. when staff told patrons the gym was on lockdown.
The man who was stabbed in the parking lot was then brought inside the gym, Wilson said. Staffers began treating the man, who appeared to be gravely hurt.
“I was pretty far away and I could see that there was a lot of blood," said Wilson, 33. "It was totally unreal.”
Paramedics arrived and whisked away the wounded man. He suffered serious injuries, police said.
Martinez-Romero drove the man’s stolen car to Tigard and ditched it, police said. He then stole another car, stabbing the woman who was driving the vehicle, according to authorities.
That woman also was seriously injured, police said. Officers captured Martinez-Romero a short time later as he left the car and fled on foot.
Wilson, who lives at an apartment complex near Murrayhill Marketplace, remained stunned hours after he was allowed to leave Planet Fitness. “The whole thing just feels wrong,” he said.
“It was the middle of the day at a place I go to every day,” he said, “that half this neighborhood goes to every day.”
Yellow police tape lined one of the center’s large parking lots while more than a dozen law enforcement officers milled about behind it.
Just a few yards from the scene of the fatal stabbing, people continued with their shopping, eating and other afternoon activities.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, Insomnia Coffee Co., On Point Community Credit Union and Planet Fitness — businesses that run the length of one side of the shopping center — were closed.
-- Jim Ryan and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
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