The attack happened at around 4:50 a.m. by a dumpster at the Rosewood Manor Apartments at 4810 Northeast Sandy Boulevard. Officers searched the area but didn't find the suspect.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A woman was attacked by a stranger outside an apartment complex in Northeast Portland early Wednesday morning.

The attack happened at around 4:50 a.m. next to a dumpster at the Rosewood Manor Apartments at 4810 Northeast Sandy Boulevard.

The victim didn't know the suspect, according to Portland police.

Randy Pomeroy, who lives at the complex, said he heard screams and went outside to see what was happening. He saw a man and his neighbor fighting. Pomeroy said his neighbor saw the man breaking into her car.

"There were potted plants being thrown at him and everything else," Pomeroy said.

He watched the fight unfold.

"She had a shovel. He had a steel pipe going at her. I mean she was all cut up all down her arms defending herself. I jumped in between them and he came at me with the steel pipe," Pomeroy said.

That's when he grabbed a nearby chair.

“Put it between me and him. That was real simple. I just kept it like this in front of him and said, 'Man you gotta back out of here. Get out,'” said Pomeroy as he demonstrated how he held the chair.

It didn't take him long to grab his phone and call police. When they arrived, the guy had already taken off. Police are calling the attack a stabbing and at this point can't confirm a pipe was used.

The victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene but refused to be taken to the hospital for further medical treatment, police said.

Officers searched the area but didn't find the suspect. He was described as a white man in his 30s, about 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds. He wore a dark-colored baseball hat, black jacket and blue jeans with a patch on one leg.

Pomeroy said car break-ins and rummaging through the dumpsters right outside his door happens far too often. He said it happens almost every night and trash gets thrown all over the ground.

“I've had three bikes stolen from the front of my patio, chains cut,” he said.

Pomeroy and his neighbors are fed up but are unsure what can be done.

“It's all you can do, is catch them in the act,” he said.