Hazelwood assault leads to arrest

Find out how a ‘non-domestic assault’ led to gun charges, at an outer East Portland apartment complex …

Police converge on the Hazelwood neighborhood, along East Burnside Street, when they receive a disturbance call – and gunshots are reported.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Minutes after midnight on December 30, the sounds of a man and woman fighting at the Continental Apartments – on East Burnside Street, at SE 127^th Avenue – were followed by gunshots.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers arrived at about 12:29 a.m. to investigate the disturbance reports called in to the 9-1-1 Center.

They learned that an adult man ran away from the apartment complex, westbound, on East Burnside Street.

Police close down the area to look for an armed male suspect.

“Officers interviewed the apartment’s residents and learned that a non-domestic assault between a male and a female subject had occurred inside the apartment,” reported PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Chris Burley. “After the suspect exited the apartment, there was a sound of shots fired, as the suspect was fleeing the scene; he had been armed with a firearm.”

There were no reported injuries as a result of the assault or the shots fired, nor did any area hospitals report receiving any gunshot wound patients, Burley commented. “Officers did find evidence of gunfire, and seized five .40 caliber casings in front of the apartment, but didn’t locate any property or structure that had been damaged by the gunfire.”

An unmarked police unit searches the neighborhood, looking for the suspect.

Although officers didn’t find the gun, they did locate the suspect – he was some distance away, near SE 122nd Avenue and Stark Street, and they took him into custody without incident.

Facing five charges, including two Felonies, for his alleged activities in this incident, is 22-year-old DeAngelo Romione Andersen-Smith. MCDC booking photo

“The suspect was identified as 22-year-old DeAngelo Romione Andersen-Smith,” Burley told East Portland News. Andersen-Smith was lodged at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 5:18 a.m. that morning, booked on charges of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Strangulation, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and the Discharge a Firearm in the City.

After his arraignment in Multnomah County District Court later on December 31, Andersen-Smith learned that, in addition to the Felony weapons charges, he’d also face a Class A Misdemeanor charge of Reckless Endangerment.

Andersen-Smith’s combined bail was set at $17,750. That was irrelevant in this case, because he was also ordered to be held at MCDC on a charge of Parole Violation – without bail.

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