WOODBURN, Ore. - Police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of slitting the throat of an auctioneer in front of a crowd at the Woodburn Auction Yard.

The 50-year-old victim, Chuck Boyce, was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, where he was listed in stable condition at last check.

The suspect, 22-year-old Jeremiah D. Thomasson of Coos Bay, faces numerous charges including attempted murder.

The incident happened about noon at the auction yard at 597 South Pacific Highway just as an auction was getting underway, according to Lt. Sheila Lorance, a Marion County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. Witnesses told KATU the suspect climbed up the side of the auctioneer's cart and slashed the victim's throat with a box cutter in front of about 85 people.

"And he come around, and he grabbed him around the neck, just like you kill somebody in the movies," said witness Peter Hoogenbosch. "And he whacked him."

A few in the crowd chased the attacker as he ran away and disappeared inside the Shalimar Mobile Home Park in Woodburn.

Police later took Thomasson into custody from inside the park.

Neither police nor friends of the victim knew what motivated the attack.