Week #236 Shooting Report | Includes 9 exclusive photos | Portland Police officers respond to two shooting calls — one in Foster-Powell and one Mt. Scott-Arleta – within just nine minutes on Thursday night. Here’s the exclusive story …
Just five blocks apart neighborhood streets are closed off, as police investigate shootings that took place within a span of only ten minutes.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Shootings in the Foster-Powell and Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhoods – just five blocks away from each other, and nine minutes apart – taxed the personnel resources of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), late Thursday night, December 12th.
Although the two shootings were unrelated, and it appears that no one was injured, the two incidents resulted in a callout of all available officers.
December 12 at 9:54 p.m.
Teen shoots up apartments in Foster-Powell
Police close off narrow SE Mitchell Street at 76th Avenue, in the Foster-Powell neighborhood, to investigate the first area shooting of the evening.
After shots were heard in the Foster-Powell neighborhood – at a no-name small apartment complex at 7710 SE Mitchell Street on December 12 – several people called the 9-1-1 Center and reported them. PPB East Precinct officers were dispatched to the scene of this “Shots Fired” call at 9:54 p.m.
“Arriving officers found a large crime scene that included bullet strikes to an apartment,” PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen confirmed to East Portland News the next morning. “There was a large amount of damage, but, thankfully, no injuries.”
East Precinct officers were joined by members of the PPB’s Focused Intervention Team (FIT) and detectives from their Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) responded to investigate and developed information about a suspect.
The PPB’s FIT and ECST join District Officers at the location at this shooting.
“Investigators learned that the suspect, a 14-year-old male, had walked into a hospital in Central Precinct, suffering a gunshot injury,” Sergeant Allen informed. “After being treated and released, he was then booked into the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center on two counts of Attempted Murder.”
If you have information about this incident, and have not already spoken with investigators, contact crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and let them know it’s about Case No. 24-317373.
December 12 at 10:01 p.m.
After Mt. Scott-Arleta shooting, barricaded felon safely surrenders
Minutes after that first callout, a short distance away in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood PPB SERT officers began flooding the area when a man, suspected to have a gun, wouldn’t get out of his truck.
It’s uncertain why PPB officers were originally sent to a different “Shots Fired” call – just five blocks to the southwest of previous incident – late on December 12. This incident did not appear on the Portland Bureau of Emergency Communication’s Media Notification System that evening.
Out covering the previous story, we noticed that at about 10 p.m. many additional officers were racing toward the intersection of SE 72nd Avenue and Harold Street in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood.
Officers take defensive positions behind their vehicles, as a PPB CNT negotiator loud-hails the suspect with using a squad car’s PA system, ordering the suspect to surrender.
Officers found evidence of gunfire, but an officer at the scene reported that – again in this one – no one had been injured.
The preliminary investigation suggested the suspect, an adult male, was inside a silver pickup truck stopped at the curb, facing northbound, on SE 72nd Avenue near Insley Street.
When officers asked the suspect to come out, and he was uncooperative, a PPB incident commander activated the PPB’s Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and the Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT), bringing additional officers and safety hardware to help address the armed, barricaded suspect.
Officers and a PPB K9 Police Dog team stand by, as tense negations continue.
SERT officers continued swarming into the area; and soon all of SE 72nd Avenue was filled with parked police vehicles along Mt. Scott City Park, as officers walked to the scene. In addition to two PPB K9 Police Dog teams, a drone soon buzzed overhead – and, a member of the “Bomb Squad” drove a small, remote-control robot into the containment area as well.
Next to the truck, on the sidewalk, an officer prepares to handcuff the suspect.
At about 11:45 p.m., the suspect finally surrendered to officers and was arrested. Officers found a gun believed to be the one used in the shooting, and recovered it as evidence.
Police say they found this Ruger semi-automatic pistol inside the truck the suspect had been driving. PPB provided image
On December 13, PPB officials revealed that 26-year-old Jeremy Michael Austin Clark had been booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 1:19 a.m. that morning on charges of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Discharging a Firearm in the City (city code, 6 counts), Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm in a Public Place (city code), and a “probation violation” detainer.
At his arraignment, it came out that Clark was also being held on a charge of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, and also on multiple warrants – including Assault in the Third Degree, Robbery, Criminal Mischief, Menacing, and Harassment. Currently, Clark is being held, without bail, in the MCDC.
Again, if you have information about this incident, and have not already spoken with investigators, contact crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and let them know it’s about Case No. 24-317378.
With the suspect arrested, SERT officers begin to stand down and depart.
Officers commended
“The fact that East Precinct had two shootings within 10 minutes of each other, was a significant challenge and a strain on resources,” Sergeant Allen confirmed. “As officers from other precincts came to assist, along with our specialty units, they all really did incredible work making arrests in both of these shootings.”
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And so, the shootings in outer East Portland continue, prodding us to write the East Portland News “Shooting Report” for the 236th week. To learn when, why, and how, these weekly “Shooting Report” articles began, and why they will continue, CLICK HERE.
© 2024 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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