NE Bend man stabbed in back; suspect arrested
A man who was stabbed in the back during a dispute in northeast Bend early Sunday was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and his alleged assailant was arrested, police said, adding that alcohol was a contributing factor in the assault.
Shortly before 2 a.m., officers were dispatched to the Twin Knolls Shopping Center at 2570 NE Twin Knolls Dr. on a reported stabbing, said Sgt. Todd Fletcher.
Officers arrived to find the victim, Austin Phillip Cronin, 22, had been stabbed in the back, Fletcher said, adding that “he was bleeding and having breathing problems.”
Bend fire medics took Cronin to St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, where a nursing supervisor said she had no information to share. Fletcher said Cronin was in the hospital’s ICU with “serious, but not life-threatening” injuries.
Cronin and other witnesses reported they were in a vacant parking lot when a man later identified as Shawn William Flanary, 49, came out the back door of the Eastside Laundromat and confronted them, Fletcher said
The two men got into a dispute, the sergeant said, leading to the stabbing. Cronin and one of the witnesses ran to a nearby business, Timbers Bar and Grill, for help, Fletcher said.
Officers found Flanary inside the Laundromat, and he was taken into custody and jailed on charges of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, Fletcher said. He was held in the Deschutes County Jail on $105,000 bail.
Fletcher said an investigation determined the two men did not know each other. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation was asked to contact Bend police through Deschutes County dispatchers at (541) 693-6911.
