An employee at the Portland Outdoor Store returned to work Saturday morning, two days after he said he was attacked outside his apartment in connection with the beating of another store employee.

"I heard two men say I was the guy from the Outdoor Store," said Miguel Figueroa, 31. "Then they jumped me."

Figueroa said he had stepped out to the back of his Portland apartment near Portland State University Thursday night to empty garbage when the men recognized him. He said he was pushed to the ground and hit and kicked.

"I hurt my elbow, my lip and the side of my face," he said Saturday. "I took Friday off work."

The two men ran off.

Detectives interviewed Figueroa, said Sgt. Pete Simpson, the Portland Police Bureau's public information officer.

"There seems to be some connection," he said. "The suspects said something about the Outdoor Store."

On Monday, co-worker Larry Allen, 70, was

when he went outside the store to hose down the sidewalk.

A group of street kids refused to move and then one struck Allen in the head with a skateboard.

Figueroa, who was interviewed by reporters and featured on television in connection with the attack on Allen, said street kids have been a persistent problem for businesses on Southwest Oak Street near Third Avenue.

The

had a mobile command unit stationed near the store Friday and Saturday. However the mobile command unit was not specifically in response to the recent incidents at the store. Simpson said the unit was there to address the numerous problems in the area that is "kind of a hot spot for street-use problems."

"That helps, but they move on and the kids are back again," Figueroa said. "The city has to do something."

–Tom Hallman Jr.