10/27/09 Bend
By Doug Johnson
Bend Police are actively following up on leads for three separate random acts of violence against women this month.
"It's unusual to have this number of incidents in this short a time period," says Sgt. Greg Owens with the Bend Police Department.
The most recent attack was against a thirteen-year-old girl, on Northwest Kerney Avenue behind the M & J Tavern in Bend. Police say the victim was punched several times by two men while walking through the area just before eight o'clock Sunday night. The suspects are described as white, five foot six and five foot seven, eighteen to twenty years old, one wearing a black t-shirt, the other wearing a black hooded sweat shirt. Nothing was taken from the victim. The second incident happened behind the Bend Outlet Mall, in a parking lot sometime between ten and eleven Friday night. Police say a forty-six-year-old woman was walking back from a nearby bar to her home on Parrell Road in Bend, when something knocked her out.
"She had some injuries to her face and stuff, but she doesn't know anything about who hit her or what happened to her or anything," Sgt. Owens says.
Police say her purse was found nearby with money taken. A few weeks ago, another woman was robbed in a bathroom in the Old Mill District shopping mall. That suspect is described as a white male, about five-ten to six feet tall, thin with blonde hair, wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt. He took her cash, jewelry and her sweatshirt. Police say if you can avoid walking alone at night you should; if you have to they say it's important to have a phone on you, but more important to stay off the phone.
"It divides your attention when you should be paying attention to your surroundings," Owens says.
Walking in well lit areas, and letting others know when you're leaving and where you're going are things police say you should also try to do.
"You hear it all the time, this is little old Bend, stuff like this doesn't happen in Bend. Well it does happen, and you need to be careful," Owens says.
