A Central Oregon Community College student is being held in connection with the stabbing of his roommate early Saturday, according to Bend Police.

The victim, James Briles, 18, was in stable condition in St. Charles Medical Center as of 7 p.m. Saturday.

Briles’ roommate, Eric Norgaard, 22, was arrested in the room they shared at Juniper Hall, COCC’s only dormitory. Norgaard is being held at the Deschutes County jail on suspicion of attempted murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. His bail has been set at $360,000.

Police were called to the dorm shortly after midnight Friday on a report of a stabbing, and found Briles in the hallway with several stab wounds, believed to be from a knife. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Ron Paradis, spokesman for COCC, said eight to 10 students witnessed the incident, which police believe was unprovoked. Paradis said many of the roughly 100 students who live at Juniper Hall had left campus for the weekend and were not there at the time.

Briles, a forestry major in his first term of college, is from Monroe, in the Willamette Valley, and had been living in a two-person dorm unit with Norgaard since the start of the school year, Paradis said. He said school records list Norgaard, a computer science major who has been attending COCC since January, as a Bend resident.

Paradis called the stabbing “the most significant student incident that I recall in my 23 years here,” and said the college has brought in counselors from St. Charles Health System to work with students who may have been shaken by the incident. He said classes are currently scheduled to resume as planned on Monday.

“I think the important thing is that we’re trying to make sure the students who live in the residence hall are comfortable and their needs are taken care of,” Paradis said.

Oregon court records indicate no prior criminal offenses for Norgaard.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com