Portland police say a stabbing Monday night in a wooded area behind the Kon Asian Bistro restaurant at 1140 Brighton Ave. involved two occupants of a homeless encampment known as “Tent City.”

Lt. Gary Hutcheson said late Monday that a police dog from South Portland was brought in to track the suspect, who is a woman.

The victim, a man in his 30s, was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center for treatment of what Hutcheson described as two superficial wounds to his hip.

The incident began around 9 p.m. when the victim called authorities to say he had been stabbed. Police entered the woods behind the restaurant and an adjacent shopping center and found the victim. The woman had fled. Police said the two got into an argument over using a generator to charge a cellphone.

“They were both part of the homeless encampment,” Hutcheson said. “They apparently got into an argument and she stabbed him.”

The residents of Tent City have been given until Aug. 31 to vacate the encampment. More than two dozen homeless people – including at least one family with a small child – have been tenting in a trash-strewn grove behind the Pine Tree Shopping Center on Brighton Avenue. Some have been living there for more than two years.

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Police revealed recently that they have responded to an increasing number of incidents in Tent City this year, including domestic violence, arson, and people with outstanding arrest warrants.

After being informed of the situation, the property owners asked police to remove the encampment. Police then issued a formal “No Trespass Notice” that requires the occupants to leave with all belongings by Aug. 31 under threat of arrest.

Police have been working with teams from Preble Street, the nonprofit social services agency, to help the encampment’s residents find services and shelter.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com


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