Car Crash, Machete Attack Make For Complicated Case In Clackamas

JENNINGS LODGE, OR — Clackamas County law enforcement on Thursday continued to piece together a wild scene that occurred north of Gladstone Wednesday involving two men, a car crash, and a machete attack.

According to Clackamas County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Brian Jensen, one person has been arrested and another is in hospital with serious injuries.

Timothy David Crawford, 24, is being held at Clackamas County Jail on $320,000 bail. He is charged with several crimes, which include attempted murder, assault, burglary, and theft.

Clackamas County deputies were first dispatched at approximately 2:45 p.m. April 4 to a car crash near the intersection of Southeast Rose Street and Southwest Jennings Avenue in the unincorporated Clackamas County community of Jennings Lodge.

While en route, deputies were told to look for two men who were seen running from the crash in opposite directions; but, Jensen said, as more calls to 911 were relayed to responding deputies, the situation became considerably more complicated.

"Some reports claimed there was a bicyclist that had been run over; others reported that someone had been shot in the head," Jensen explained in a statement released Thursday. "One report said the victim — identified as Troy D. Anderson, 27, of Milwaukie — was telling a caller he had been shot in the head."

Deputies found Anderson roughly a quarter-mile south of the crash near Southeast Rose Street and Southeast Hull Avenue, Jensen said, adding that Anderson "was bleeding profusely from the head and had a substantial injury to his hand," caused largely by a machete attack.

Providing first aid to Anderson and trying to work out what exactly happened, deputies learned Crawford attacked Anderson with the machete while Anderson was at a home in the 18000-block of Southeast Rose Street.

After the attack, Anderson was apparently trying to escape in his Toyota 4Runner when he veered off the narrow road and into the front yard of a home in the same area, smashing through a short, chain-link fence and severing a small tree at its base.

From there both men reportedly fled in opposite directions, based on witness statements.

Sometime after finding Anderson deputies located and arrested Crawford several blocks north of the crash.

Upon his arrest, Crawford had in his possession a .45 caliber handgun, Jensen said. Crawford's burglary and theft charges appear related to the gun, with court documents indicating Crawford stole the firearm from a home in the 20400-block of South Beavercreek Road in Oregon City.

Calls to Oregon City police were not immediately returned.

Crawford currently has two other open cases in Clackamas County stemming from incidents in February. One is a misdemeanor theft, and the other is a misdemeanor theft with unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.

The investigation is ongoing, Jensen told Patch, noting more details will be released as investigators learn more.

This post will be updated when more information is released.

Anyone who may have information that could assist the investigation is encouraged to call the Clackamas County tip line at 503-723-4949, or submit a tip online at the sheriff's office website.

This post has been updated to clarify part of the event timeline.

Images via Clackamas County Sheriff's Office