Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 29-year-old Tidewater man after he was found inside a house along the Alsea River on Friday night, stabbing the homeowner twice while fighting with her.
Branden M. Gross is in the Lincoln County Jail on charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Bail is $300,000.
In a news release, the sheriff’s office said a woman returned to her home in the riverside subdivision of Little Albany about 5:50 p.m. Friday to find a man on the second floor of her home. She was able to wrestle the man out of the back door while screaming for help, deputies said.
But once outside, the man got back into the house, again fighting with the homeowner and stabbing her twice in the abdomen. Neighbors ran to help, getting between the homeowner and the intruder. The woman ran to a neighbor’s house and the man ran out the front door and into another home.
Deputies arrested Gross and the woman was taken to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport to treat her wounds, which were not life-threatening.
Deputies said that the victim did not know Gross, who they said suffers from mental health issues.