PORTLAND -- Jackie Collins was a regular at the St. Francis dining hall. Though he often kept to himself, his face was well known among the staff and guests.
"There's been some feelings of anger and feelings of sadness. People just feel... a loss. A great loss to our community," said Megan Dunning, the co-director of the St. Francis dining hall.
Collins never really opened up, according to those who knew him. How had he come to live on Portland's streets? Did he have any family? Did he serve in the military? No one seemed to know.
"That's the saddest part. We never really got to know him very well," said Dunning.
Collins was quiet and he clearly battled alcoholism. Police records go all the way back to 1989 when he was first cited for an open container.
"He was a private drunk. I mean he never got wild or crazy or anything. He just would drink and then go off and be on his own," explained Jimbo Nelson.
Nelson considered Collins a close acquaintance. He's known him since the 1980's and said he's surprised at the circumstances that led to his death. Nelson never saw Collins confront anyone with or without a weapon.
"He wasn't that kind of a person. There must have been something really wrong for him to charge at anybody because he never did that out here with anybody, you know," Nelson said.
Nelson said he had heard from others in the homeless community that Collins was a cutter, meaning he would cut himself during times of depression. Nelson believes the cutting may explain Collins' possession of a razor knife.
Nelson also said that Collins moved around quite a bit, but often spent time under the St. John's bridge. His death, though so public, was proving hard to accept to those he once knew.
