Portland DJ hospitalized after being stabbed in strip club

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - After undergoing multiple hours-long surgeries, a Portland man is recovering at Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center after being stabbed in the back four times, Sunday night.

Duncan Allen has worked as a DJ at Casa Diablo Vegan Strip Club for over a decade and said he’s seen a thing or two during that time. However, never did he think he would leave work in an ambulance with stab wounds or that he would have the footage to prove it.

“I was on my computer getting some songs ready and next thing I know, I felt like a 500-pound man punch me in the back basically as hard as humanly possible so I turned around expecting there to be a huge dude about to fight me and it was her [a dancer] and she was standing there holding the knife,” Allen remembered. “I still didn’t know I was stabbed at that point. Then I took a breath in and realized my left lung had collapsed.”

As shocked as he was, Allen knew he had to stay calm to avoid his lung filling with blood too quickly before EMS arrived. Paramedics later told Allen he was just minutes away from drowning in his own blood.

While Allen was focusing on staying calm, in the back of his head, he was left wondering why the dancer attacked him, completely unprovoked. According to the owner of the club, Johnny Diablo Žūklė, he was just as shocked because the dancer, now identified by authorities as Peyton Lathan, had worked for him for ten years.

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“She was always a little off, but she never exhibited signs of violent tendencies,” Žūklė said. “She definitely had a mental health crisis. I think she had intended to kill someone, and it just happened to be Duncan, and when I think about it when she was in the dressing room for about 10 minutes, she seemed like she was possessed by a demon.”

After leaving the club, authorities say Lathan was found hiding in bushes alongside the road as police were escorting Allen’s ambulance to the hospital at the time. Police pulled over and arrested the 29-year-old. She’s facing two assault charges, as well as a charge for unlawful possession of a weapon.

According to court documents, Lathan told police repeatedly during her arrest that she is “pleading insanity” and said, “that man is a drug dealer.”

Allen, who denies those claims, said he would like to see concerning behaviors taken more seriously. He believes had someone spoken up about Lathan’s behavior beforehand, she may never have gotten the chance to attack him.

“She could’ve cracked my ribs. She could have stabbed me in the kidney. She could have stabbed me in the neck. She could have stabbed me in the spine,” Allen said. “If I have to be honest with you, I think she should get charged the highest because the fact is this was premeditated.”

Lathan’s co-workers set up a GoFundMe to help him cover medical costs associated with the stabbing.