Child discovered in Powellhurst-Gilbert apartment where woman was stabbed

STABBING REPORT | Learn more about this exclusive outer East Portland story that could have turned out even more tragically. A suspect is in jail …

Officers arrive at an apartment building in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood to investigate the report of a stabbing.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The woman who was stabbed in a Powellhurst-Gilbert apartment on Monday afternoon, August 4, is believed likely to survive her injuries. A child found at the crime scene is being cared for. And, after an extended search by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), a suspect is in jail.

This exclusive East Portland News report began when one or more calls to the 9-1-1 Center about a stabbing dispatched several officers to SE 122nd Avenue, just north of Harold Street.

An ambulance speeds away with a woman who’d suffered non-fatal stab wounds.

It didn’t take long for a total of 13 officers to arrive, all of their attention focused on the Powellhurst Place Apartments at 5415 SE 122nd Avenue – although one patrol car was “behind” the building, on a dead-end street – SE 121st Avenue.

“Officers located one victim, an adult female,” PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen later told East Portland News.

“She was taken to a local hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries,” he continued.

More officers park in front of the apartment building.

There wasn’t any suspect there when police arrived, but what they found was even more troubling. “The officers located a child at the scene of the crime; that child was taken to PPB East Precinct, and is now safe and getting appropriate care,” Sergeant Allen revealed.

The reason for the substantial callout of officers was to search the area for the knife wielding attacker, who’d slipped away before law enforcement arrived.

Behind the apartment building, additional officers pull in.

“However, very early morning of August 5, our PPB Special Victims Unit investigators did locate and arrest the suspect,” Sergeant Allen said.

Stabbing suspect arrested
Arrested was 44-year-old Guy Absalon, who was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at on August 5 at 4:52 a.m. on two Felony charges: Assault in the First Degree/Domestic Violence, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon/Domestic Violence.

After his arraignment, Absalon learned that he’d be held without bail — he’s still in custody, but was transferred to Inverness Jail.

If you have information about this incident, and haven’t yet spoken with police, please e-mail what you know about it to: crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov – specifically, to the attention of the Special Victims Unit – and refer to Case No. 25-209847.

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