Detroit Stabbing Ends in Bloody Scene in Local Bar

A bloody night in the normally quiet town of Detroit, Oregon led to a stabbing, arrest, and recovery of a loaded gun in the vehicle of the stabbing victim.

Bartender Heidi Ositis reopened after things calmed down. Photo and video of Cedar's in Detroit, Oregon by Dennis Osbourn for Salem-News.com

(DETROIT, Ore.) - A reported fight between friends in Detroit, Oregon led to a man entering Cedar's Restaurant and Lounge Friday night shortly after 9:00 p.m., with a serious stab wound to the arm, followed by the knife wielding man who had allegedly stabbed him.

Dennis Osbourn had just sat down for dinner.

"There was a good amount of blood, and I guess it wasn't that life threatening but it sure looked like it. He dribbled all the way across the street into the bar and against the wall and then there was a puddle."

He says they used towels and shirts, "And a bunch of napkins- and me- my whole shirt was soaked and it was all over me too," Osbourn added.

He says the man with the knife, 39-year old Aaron Boehmer, believed that stabbing victim, 45-year old Mark Oslie, had a handgun.

Deputies say they later found a loaded handgun in Oslie's car.

Osbourn says he had to stop Boehmer and persuade him to put the knife down, and he achieved this by checking Oslie and making sure he didn't have a handgun; that is when Boehmer put the knife down.

"There was a good amount of blood, and I guess it wasn't that life threatening but it sure looked like it," Osbourn said.

He says the man dribbled blood from all the way across the street, into the bar and against the wall, where a puddle began accumulating.

"We soaked a whole shirt and a bunch of napkins- and me- my whole shirt was soaked and it was all over me too."

Osbourn said, "I told him, 'look man, you're lucky he only brought a knife to your gunfight'."

Marion County deputies arrested Boehmer for assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Several people on scene say he only used a knife because he feared that Oslie could brandish his gun and open fire inside a crowded estabishment.

Oslie underwent surgery for the wounds which were not considered life threatening, according to a statement from Don Thomson with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Dennis Osbourn says it is coincidence and timing that Cedar's ended up becoming the scene of such a messy situation.

He believes it could have gone considerably worse.

One female patron, apparently a friend of Boehmer's, along with Heidi Ositis of Cedar's, tended to Oslie's wound prior to the paramedic's arrival; Osbourn says they likely saved his life.

"They did a great job at protecting everybody and getting everything under control, and keeping under control. And the cleanup and as you can probably see with a little clip that Heidi was even willing to open it back up again and, business as usual."

Cedar's bartender, Heidi Ositis, took a breather after the ambulance and police cleared the area, saying, "Only Cedar's will reopen after a stabbing."

Osbourn says Cedar's Restaurant and Lounge owners, Lee and Dave Layman, run a friendly and popular establishment in this scenic part of Oregon that just happens to have employees like Heidi Ositis, who can move quickly and help take care of a serious situation.

"They're the greatest. Come to Cedars anytime, I'll go back," Osbourn said.

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and WriterTim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com