GRESHAM, Ore. — A Gresham man has been charged with murder after the victim in a stabbing last week died in the hospital, according to the latest from the Gresham Police Department.
The attack happened on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 22. Gresham police officers responded to a 911 call reporting that a man had been stabbed just before 3:45 p.m. on Northeast Hogan Road and Northeast 19th Street.
Officers arrived to find the victim, 33-year-old Justin Corniel-Tapec of Gresham, seriously injured. According to a probable cause affidavit, Corniel-Tapec had multiple stab wounds to his neck and shoulder. He was struggling to breathe and was rapidly losing blood.
Corniel-Tapec was taken to the hospital, where he remained in critical condition until his death on Wednesday, according to GPD. The probable cause affidavit says that he suffered a stroke due to blood loss, and hospital staff told police earlier this week that he was "not expected to survive."
A friend who had been walking with Corniel-Tapec at the time of stabbing said that they passed a man "in his 20s with shaggy blonde hair and a white hooded sweatshirt" who attacked Corniel-Tapec suddenly and seemingly without provocation. The knife-wielding man then ran at the friend, who jumped on his bike and rode away before calling 911, the affidavit says.
"(Corniel-Tapec's friend) did not hear the man say anything before or during the attack and did not know who the man was," investigators said.
Detectives found surveillance footage from a nearby source, and one of them recognized the man as 21-year-old Luke Gentry, according to the affidavit. One of the detectives was familiar with Gentry, and recalled that the man lived in his car a few blocks from where he was seen on the footage.
Investigators with the East Multnomah County Major Crimes Team tracked Gentry to a location in Troutdale, noticing that he was still wearing the same clothes as he had been during the attack on Corniel-Tapec, the affidavit says. He was arrested on Saturday afternoon with the help of the East Metro SWAT team.
According to the affidavit, Gentry admitted that he was responsible for the stabbing, but made other statements that investigators noted "did not make any sense" related to his reasoning for the attack. He also pointed officers toward the knife used in the attack, which was found in his vehicle. It showed initial signs that there was blood on it, the affidavit said.
Police previously arrested Gentry in early September after he allegedly pulled a knife on two loss prevention officers at the Wood Village Fred Meyer when they confronted him for trying to take items from the store without paying. He was released from jail soon after his arrest, but the Multnomah County Circuit Court issued a warrant for his arrest Sept. 18 after he violated the terms of his release. He did not resurface until the stabbing last week.
Following Corniel-Tapec's death on Wednesday, a Multnomah County Grand Jury indicted Gentry on a second-degree murder charge.