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McMINNVILLE, Ore. » Authorities have tentatively identified a man who fatally stabbed a Linfield College football player in the chest at a convenience store near the Oregon college campus over the weekend.
The Yamhill County District Attorney’s office said Monday the assailant is 33-year-old Joventino Bermudez Arenas of McMinnville.
They say Arenas stabbed 20-year-old Parker Moore, a Woodinville, Washington native, at a 7-Eleven just after 11 p.m. Saturday.
Police shot and killed Arenas when he returned to the store and confronted officers with a knife.
Investigators say the stabbing appears to be random. They don’t believe the suspect and Moore knew each other and have not offered any motive for the crime.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said Moore died as a result of two stab wounds to the chest, and Arenas died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
In a 911 tape released by authorities on Monday, a store employee described witnessing the stabbing.
The employee said Moore was buying alcohol when a man stabbed the student in the chest and then ran out the door. During the 911 call, someone else in the store was holding a rag onto Moore’s chest.
As Moore lay bleeding on the floor, according to the 911 tape, the dispatcher asked the store employee how old the victim is. Moore was alert enough to say he was age 20. But his condition quickly deteriorated.
"He’s totally unconscious now," the employee eventually said.
Arenas’ live-in sister Rosalinda Bermudez told KOIN-TV through a translator that Arenas came into their home Saturday night, told family members he had done something, and was going back to turn himself in to police.
Bermudez said Arenas had no problems with drugs or mental illness, and worked at a Christmas tree farm.
Arenas died at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
Moore, a sophomore, was flown to Oregon Health and Science University, where he also died. He was majoring in business management, served as a resident adviser, and played linebacker on the football team.
Linfield is a private, liberal arts college of about 2,500 students in McMinnville, 40 miles southwest of Portland. The school said counselors were available for students. A fence near the football field was turned into a memorial for Moore, who also was mourned Sunday at a vigil in his home town of Woodinville, Washington.
