Portland woman fends off attacker by pulling concealed handgun, records show

A Portland woman fended off an attacker last month by pulling a concealed handgun from her purse, prompting him to flee, records show.

Marques Savelle Hardges

The woman reported the attack happened in her apartment complex on Northeast Shaver Street in late July. The suspect, Marques Savelle Hardges, 43, was arrested earlier this week and remains jailed on suspicion of charges including burglary, attempted sodomy and attempted sex abuse, records show.

The woman reported that she saw a man, who authorities suspect to be Hardges, in the lobby of her apartment complex July 26, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The man got in the elevator with her, according to the document, and said he had just "shot up crystal meth."

He exited on the same floor as the woman and walked to one of her neighbors' doors, the document says. She walked to hers.

When she opened her door, the man ran over and pushed her inside her apartment, according to the document. She said he "wildly looked around" and snagged a pill bottle and $60 cash, according to the affidavit.

She said he exposed himself and told her to perform a sexual act, the court record alleges.

The woman drew her permitted concealed handgun from her purse, and he dropped the bottle and ran away with the cash, according to the affidavit.

Meanwhile, a visitor the woman had been expecting buzzed her intercom. She told him what happened and that the man would be leaving her complex, the affidavit says.

The visitor took photos of him, and those images were given to police.

An officer who had had multiple recent contacts with Hardges "immediately" recognized him as the suspect, according to the affidavit. TriMet officers found him this week in Southeast Portland and arrested him, the document says.

He's next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22, according to KATU-TV.

— Jim Ryan

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