Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan reports that on March 27, 2023, at 4:22 p.m., deputies responded to a business in the 38000 block of Mason Road for a disturbance.  While enroute deputies learned a vehicle had hit a person.   Deputies arrived on scene and found several employees holding down a male in the parking lot of the business.  The male was identified as Robert France, 55, from Alamogordo, New Mexico. 

Investigators learned France drove his green 1997 GMC Yukon through a man door of the business, running over a 35-year-old employee of the business.  France got out of his vehicle and threatened another employee, 53-years old, with a knife inside the business.  Employees from the business were able to subdue France until law enforcement arrived. 

Paramedics from the Jefferson Fire Department and Albany Fire Department responded, and the 35-year-old employee was transported to the Salem Hospital.  He was later transferred to Legacy Emanual Medical Center in Portland due to the seriousness of his injuries.  The 53-year-old employee was transported to the Albany General Hospital where he was treated and released for a knife wound. 

Robert France was arrested and lodged in the Linn County Jail for Assault in the First Degree.  Other charges are pending.  The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Detective Dakotah Hinrichs of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office at 541-967-3950.