A homeless person in South Carolina was evicted from a shelter and became so enraged that an employee was brutally stabbed.
Shelter worker stabbed by homeless transgender resident
34-year-old Michelle Silva Perez, who is transgender, had been staying at Shepherd’s Gate, a Greenville homeless shelter run by Miracle Hill Ministries, which serves women and mothers with young children.
Last week, Perez was disqualified from staying at the shelter for violating facility guidelines, although the violations were not specified by Miracle Hill.
The following morning, Greenville police were called when Perez allegedly attacked an employee over the eviction.
Reports indicate that Perez pushed the employee to the ground in the Shepherd’s Gate parking lot and used a “sharp-edged object,” referred to as a sword in an arrest warrant, to stab her.
The woman was rushed to a local hospital and underwent surgery. Miracle Hill said that she is currently stable and recovering.
The attack was so gruesome, that when officers reviewed surveillance footage, they could see the victim’s internal organs exposed. Police were able to identify Perez as the assailant from the video.
Perez was arrested and charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Perez was booked into the Greenville County Detention Center but was segregated in isolation in a men’s facility due to an ongoing gender transition.
Miracle Hill said that they were unaware of Perez’s transgender status while residing at Shepherd’s Gate, but said it would have had “no bearing” on being accepted into the shelter, and was not why Perez was bounced from the facility.
Homeless encampment sheriff stabbed after fight breaks out
In another incident, a self-designated sheriff of a Portland homeless encampment was killed while attempting to shut down an argument between two homeless people under his purview.
73-year-old Kenny Housman was stabbed to death on Clinton Street early Monday morning.
A relative reported that he had gotten in between two homeless people who were in the middle of a dispute, when one of them allegedly stabbed him in the throat.
Two men were able to pin down the perpetrator until police arrested a suspect at the scene, but he was released from custody and has not been charged.
Housman, who lived on Clinton Street, aimed to stabilize the homeless encampment by vetting people before they were allowed to pitch their tents.
He did not allow loud generators or late-night parties and tried to maintain safety in the area.
“He did things to try and help them out, and he didn’t have to die,” RV resident Michael Zamora remarked.
Housman owned the property the encampment was set up on and had purchased it in 2019.
He was committed to making the area safer, stating, “When they pull up with a piece of junk, I don’t want you here.”
“If you pull up with a decent trailer that you obviously own—maybe even have put plates on it—I want you here,” Housman added.
He believed that his efforts reduced theft in the area, saying, “Thanks to my efforts, catalytic converters, few of them are stolen, gas, few of it is stolen because you don’t want those kinda people that steal catalytic converters and gas, you don’t want them on your street. If there are those kinda people, then you have to take steps to get them out.”
Homeless pair set on fire
Oklahoma City police are looking into how two homeless individuals ended up being set on fire last week.
A local resident, Cory Spencer, who lives near the site of the incident, spoke to KOCO-TV about his experience and how he assisted the two victims.
“I was taking trash to the curb and saw the young lady just from the waist up on fire. Stuff you see on TV. I never seen something like that in my life,” he told the outlet.
Spencer also observed a man on fire and attempted to help extinguish the flames engulfing both people.
“I took and put her in the shower. She turned the shower on herself and then got the fire out. Came out and sat on the couch and asked for some water,” Spencer detailed. “I never seen something like that in my life.”
He helped put out the fire that consumed the man, whose only concern was the injured woman, who in the aftermath of the shower, had severely damaged skin.
“He was yelling, ‘Is my baby alright?’” Spencer recalled. “I was trying to put out the fire on his legs and arms.”
Police suspect that someone sprayed an accelerant on the pair while they slept and then set them on fire.
KOCO reported that an investigator said woman is not expected to survive, and the man will likely lose a limb due to the trauma.
