Casa Diablo was slow last Sunday night, with just half a dozen or so patrons watching dancers take the stage at the vegan strip club in Northwest Portland, according to Duncan Allen, the DJ at the club.
But that quiet night took an abrupt and violent turn when, video shows, a woman began stabbing Allen in the back while he stood in the DJ booth.
A week later, Allen remains in the hospital with damage to his lungs. Casa Diablo dancer Peyton Lathan, 29, is in jail charged with three felonies.
"It was such a random act," Allen said. "So unprovoked"
Allen and Lathan had both worked at Casa Diablo for about 10 years, Allen consistently and Lathan on and off, according to the club's owner, Johnny Diablo Žūklė.
Allen and Žūklė both said Sunday that the DJ and the dancer knew each other and had a professional and cordial relationship.
"I don't really remember most girls' music," Allen said over the phone Sunday from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he is recuperating from the stabbing that collapsed his lung and the surgeries that followed.
"Most of the time I just play it off a playlist that they give me," he said.
But Lathan had a specific style of music she liked, sultry and older, he said, and they would bounce ideas off each other.
"She tipped me well," Allen added. "She even gave me a hug when she came in. She was very kind and sweet."
Žūklė said that while Lathan sometimes behaved strangely, there was no indication she was violent and the club had never had an incident like what happened on Dec. 8.
Last summer, records show that Lathan pleaded guilty to criminal mischief for destroying property. As part of her probation in that case, Lathan was ordered to complete a mental health evaluation and pay over $1,000 in restitution.
Žūklė said the club was not aware of Lathan's legal trouble.
On Sunday, Dec. 8, Žūklė said, security footage showed Lathan in the dressing room for around 10 minutes, shaking and sometimes crying.
Žūklė shared the video of what he said happened next with The Oregonian/OregonLive.
In it, a woman stands behind the DJ booth, unseen by Allen. After a moment, she appears to pull something out of her sleeve and then rush at Allen, before he turns around and she runs away, yelling something at him.
"I felt like like a really large dude punched me in the back as hard as humanly possible like four times," Allen said.
He turned around looking over Lathan for his assailant. But then, he said, he saw her.
"And she's holding the knife," Allen said, "And I was like, 'Oh, my God, I just got stabbed.'"
His coworkers rushed to his aid, he said. Dancers helped him to a quiet place and put pressure on the wound while someone called 9-1-1.
According to Allen, an ambulance arrived in 6 minutes.
"If it would have been 10, I'd be dead," he said.
Allen was taken to Legacy Emanuel where he underwent surgery for a collapsed lung, he said.
He called the dancers and medics who helped him "real-life superheroes" and credited them with saving his life.
A GoFundMe to help with Allen's recovery has raised over $7,000 so far.
According to court documents, police who arrived after the incident were checking the area of the club when they found Lathan "hiding in the bushes" and took her into custody without incident.
Police found two knives near her, one with "a red stain on the tip," said an affidavit about the arrest.
"During her arrest, Lathan continually said she is 'pleading insanity,'" the document said.
After Lathan was placed in a cell, the affidavit said, she told officers "that man is a drug dealer," and "you will find zero trace of drugs or alcohol in my body."
Allen said he is not a drug dealer.
Lathan is booked at Multnomah County Detention Center, charged with felony assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Her court-appointed lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Allen remains at the hospital, with a tube in his chest, waiting for his lung to stop draining fluid so he can go home and recover, he said.
For now, he doesn't know if he will return to the club where he has DJ'ed for a decade.
"I need to get out of the hospital," Allen said. "My feet need to touch the grass and I need to stare into the sky for about 30 minutes and just close my eyes and hold my dog and just kind of just be thankful that I'm alive."