CLACKAMAS, Ore — A man whose cousin was stabbed to death outside his Clackamas apartment said he's still coming to terms with how he died.
Tristan Thomas, 43, was stabbed multiple times late in the evening on Sept. 21. Chad Westover, 52, was arrested for assault, then had those charges upgraded to second-degree murder after Thomas died from those wounds almost two weeks later.
"For this to happen, it's just kind of out of left field," Tristan Thomas's cousin, Brandon Thomas, said. "It's very numbing. Hard to believe."
Brandon said he grew up with Tristan. Although cousins, he said, they were more like brothers. They learned to ride bikes together, swim together and do all the things boys would do when growing up in the 80s and 90s.
"He was one of a kind, very unique. He marched to the beat of his own drum, but he was also very caring and very loving. He had that real soft side to him that not a whole lot of people saw," Brandon recalled.
Court documents in Clackamas County detailed the convoluted events on Sept. 21 that led to Thomas's death.
Just after 5 p.m., Thomas called 911 after he said he was assaulted by his neighbor. Clackamas County deputies responded to find a bloodied and scraped-up Thomas at the Twin Creeks Apartment homes on Sunnyside Road in Clackamas. Thomas told deputies he had got into an argument with his neighbor over how he had parked his motorcycle in a parking spot. Thomas said he sprayed mace at the neighbor with no effect.
The court filings said that the neighbor then tripped and shoved him to the ground, adding that Thomas said the neighbor sat on his chest and punched him in the face 30 times with both fists.
Thomas was taken to the hospital but was never admitted and returned home a short time later.
"How ridiculous. A parking spot essentially. How it escalated from there, I have no idea," Brandon said.
The neighbor was never arrested because, according to court documents, deputies didn't believe they had enough probable cause at the time for assault.
A few hours after returning home from the hospital, Thomas called 911 again, this time over what he thought was a crying child being slapped by an adult. Deputies responded but said they couldn't find evidence of a disturbance and left. The apartment complex that Thomas had pointed deputies to belonged to the neighbor he accused of punching him earlier in the day.
Then, just after 11 p.m., Thomas called 911 again. This time, he said he was being threatened by four people and said one of them had a gun, but the court documents said he told dispatchers he had not seen a gun.
The court documents in the affidavit against Westover detailed multiple interviews with witnesses, as well as Thomas's neighbor who earlier assaulted him, Westover and Westover's cousin. Detectives talked with all three and were told by Westover's cousin that all three went to the apartment complex after the neighbor had taken a call from his daughter that concerned them.
The interview with Westover's cousin in the court documents said that the three went to the Twin Creek Apartments and found Thomas outside. Westover's cousin told detectives Thomas wouldn't talk with them and that they had accused Thomas, without proof, of following the neighbor's daughter.
The cousin started recording Thomas on her phone as he was also calling 911 at the same time.
Detectives recall in witness statements and video evidence that Westover said, "If you guys are done filming, I can handle this." Westover's cousin then said, according to detectives: "I stopped filming, Chad. Handle it."
Witnesses told deputies they heard cries for help as Thomas was being attacked and stabbed multiple times. Court documents say that in the struggle, Westover was also cut on his cheek and torso.
Deputies arrested Westover for assault, later charging him with second-degree murder when Thomas passed away on Oct. 3 from his stab wounds.
"From what I see, it wasn't his fight. It wasn't Westover's fight. It was none of his business, but he took it upon himself to get involved," Brandon said.
Thomas was a father to a teenage daughter. He worked as a mail carrier in the Lents neighborhood for the last decade.
"The Postal Service mourns the passing of a member of our postal family. Tristan Thomas was a city letter carrier at the Lents Detached Carrier Unit and was veteran of the Postal Service for a little more than 10 years. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends," said a United States Postal Service spokesperson for the USPS.
Brandon said he's been receiving messages from Thomas's workers and friends.
"One of his coworkers said he would check in on the old folks on his route, just to make sure they were good to go in the hot weather or even when it was cold out," Brandon said. "He loved the fact that he could just get out and he didn't have to sit still. He didn't like to sit still at all. Getting out in the neighborhood and talking to people, that was his jam. That's what he liked to do. He loved being a mailman."
Brandon set up a GoFundMe account to help with expenses.
Westover will be arraigned in Clackamas County Court on Oct. 9.
More Than A Number aims to help give a face and a voice to victims and families impacted by tragedies. If you or someone you know has been the victim of a homicide and would like to share your story, you can reach out to us by sending an email to morethananumber@kgw.com.