PORTLAND, Ore. — A man arrested in a stabbing on Portland's Steel Bridge that left one person dead was released from jail two days later due to "insufficient evidence" to issue criminal charges, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office.
On Thursday, Portland police identified the man dead as 38-year-old Fernando Luis Aguirre. The Medical Examiner said Aguirre died by stabbing.
Police arrested a suspect on the morning of March 16 after officers responding to reports of a man threatening someone with a knife in Old Town found a man matching the description of the suspect in that Friday's stabbing. Police released his name and age and said officers determined he may be connected to the homicide. They booked him into jail on charges of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree.
On Monday, he was released, and the charges were dismissed. KGW is no longer naming him as the charges were dropped.
The case remains an open investigation, the DA's office said, and video evidence related to the stabbing "may shed light on the level of culpability of the involved parties."
Portland police said a preliminary investigation into Friday's stabbing on the Steel Bridge found two people were fighting on the lower deck bike and pedestrian path when one stabbed another in the leg with a knife. Officers responded just after 1 p.m. and found a man on the bridge with life-threatening injuries. They applied tourniquets and took the man to the hospital, where he died.
A knife at the scene was seized as evidence but not arrests were made that day. Police reported the suspect was on the run until Saturday's arrest.