Bend man arraigned in stabbing that seriously injured roommate during argument at NE Bend apartment

(Update: adding video, arraignment, suspect named, details of crime, injuries)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 20-year-old Bend man was arraigned Monday on charges of assault and unlawful use of a weapon, accused of stabbing and seriously injuring a 19-year-old roommate during an argument at their apartment early Saturday morning.

Bend Police responded around 1:17 a.m. Saturday to the reported dispute and stabbing at the Escena Apartments in the 20000 block of Empire Avenue, Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.

“It started as two 911 (call) hang-ups,” Miller told KTVZ News. “And when 911 (dispatchers) called back was when they determined it was some sort of dispute with a potential stabbing.”

Officers arrived and found the suspect, identified as Ty Joseph Blischke, in the parking lot, Miller said. They entered the apartment and found the male victim on the couch, with a stab wound to his left ribs.

The victim reported that his roommate stabbed him. A third roommate was on scene but did not witness the altercation, only overhearing it from another room.

Bend Fire & Rescue medics took the victim to St. Charles Bend with serious injuries, Miller said.

Blischke was taken to the Bend Police Department for questioning, then to the Deschutes County Jail.

Miller said detectives executed a search warrant at the apartment as part of the ongoing investigation.

At Monday's arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Mara Houck said the argument began when the victim went to Blischke's room and knocked him out of a chair. She said Blischke then went to the victim's room with a steak knife. She said the other man hit him with a wine bottle but he "was bleeding profusely and couldn't defend himself further."

In fact, Houck said the stabbing punctured the victim's lung and led to an "emergency surgery battle for survival, with various complications."

She noted that Blischke told police he "should have killed (the victim) and put him in a body bag." She said he had no criminal history but it was an "extremely serious" crime.

Judge Alyica Sykora set Blischke's bail at $250,000 and set conditions including no contact with the victim or anyone at the apartment, no possession of alcohol or going to bars or liquor stores. Arraignment on an expected formal indictment is set for next Monday, March 10.