Lloyd District sees two violent attacks within 48 hours

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Two people have been seriously injured within 48 hours in random attacks in the Lloyd District.

On Monday, one person was arrested after stabbing a security guard in the head near the Oregon Convention Center, the Portland Police Bureau said.

Officers arrived shortly after 3 p.m. at the 700 block of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where a female security guard was found with stab wounds. Court documents say those stab wounds reached all the way down to the surface of her brain.

PPB says the security guard was taken to a local hospital and is in “good spirits.”

Officers arrested and charged 48-year-old Okerlil Appleton with unlawful use of a weapon, second-degree assault and “several outstanding warrants,” according to PPB. Court documents say Appleton was drunk and having a mental health episode.

On Tuesday, a second woman was attacked in the Lloyd District, being severely injured after being hit in the head with a rock the “size of a basketball” near Northeast 2nd Avenue and Wasco Street.

“That could have been my kid, that could have been us because we play out here all the time,” said Victoria Wayne, who lives across the street from where the attack happened. “I guess the lady was just standing there and the guy hit her with a rock. What if that was my kid.”

Officers arrested Dwayne Simpson, 40, who was arraigned Wednesday on first-degree attempted assault, second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Tana Tomter lives across the street from Tuesday’s assault. She says what happened was unacceptable and has no excuse.

“I think people have compassion for that aspect and I understand why when it’s a horrific crime, how do you have compassion, how do you understand that but if there is at any point to try to understand that person is suffering from something as well,” Tomter says.

While court documents detail Appleton’s mental health status, no details were given in the case of Simpson.

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