UPDATE: Suspect arrested! Mystery shrouds this possible ‘gang related’ shooting. It appears if the gunman is still out here …
Police cars converge at the on SE Holgate Boulevard, just east of SE 92nd Avenue.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
15-year-old Abukar Madey may have originally gone to shoot hoops in Lents Park, as he reportedly told his parents when left home about 9:00 p.m. on October 11.
But, for reasons still unclear, he ended up being shot and critically inured later that evening while in the company of a 22-year-old man who, police say, is a documented Hispanic Street Gang member.
This AMR ambulance pulls away, taking gunshot victim 22-year-old Lucio Alejandro Ramirez-Navarro to the hospital.
Police officers put up plastic tape, sealing off the outer crime scene area near the Holgate Boulevard light rail platform near SE 92nd.
The tragedy unfolded minutes before midnight. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers converged at the MAX Light Rail Holgate Transit Station, a half-block east of SE 92nd Avenue, after the report of a shooting there.
An American Medical Response ambulance also sped to the scene. Paramedics tended to the torso, leg, and arm gunshot wounds of a 22-year-old who was later identified as Lucio Alejandro Ramirez-Navarro – and who went by Alex Ramirez. He’d staggered from the station over to a grassy strip near the 7-Eleven Store at 92nd Avenue and Holgate.
Apparently the victim did not report someone else had been shot. So, it was not until some ten minutes later that officers went down into the Holgate Transit Station to begin their investigation of the crime scene, that they found the other victim, and called for another ambulance.
Officers converge in this SE Holgate Boulevard pedestrian island as they await orders.
Officers said they found the second victim on a stairway leading down to the MAX platform. This person, who had been shot in the head and arm, wasn’t identified until much later because he carried no identification. This gunshot victim turned out to be a Franklin High School student, and former Hosford Middle School student, Abukar Madey.
As paramedics tended to both wounded, packaging them for transport to hospitals, police cars closed off the area – looking for an armed suspect along area streets, the I-205 Multi-Use Path, and eventually along the Springwater Trail. The search was not successful. MAX Light Rail Green Line trains were ordered not to stop at Holgate Station during the investigation.
The ambulance carrying critically-injured 15-year-old Abukar Madey to a hospital Emergency Department, leaves the scene.
When Madey died, early Sunday morning – the Oregon State Medical Examiner determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the head – the investigation went from looking into just another gang shooting, to being a murder investigation.
In the hospital, while Ramirez-Navarro was recovering from his injuries, PPB Homicide Detectives questioned him. “Detectives learned that Madey and Ramirez-Navarro were associated to one another,” reported PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson.
The MAX Light Rail Holgate Transit Station is sealed off, as detectives begin an investigation.
“Additionally, Ramirez is a documented member of a Hispanic street gang in Portland,” Simpson added. “Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that the shooting is gang-related.”
After being convicted of third-degree assault in 2010, and sentenced to 13 months in prison, court records show that Ramirez-Navarro had a Clackamas address, and had recently completed his supervised parole during the summer.
At the top of this MAX Light Rail Holgate Transit Station stairway, officers point out evidence left behind from the shootings
The relationship remains unclear between 15-year-old Abukar Madey (Family supplied photo) and 22-year-old Lucio Alejandro Ramirez-Navarro. (Facebook page image)
In a memo sent to Portland Public School employees, Hosford Middle School Principal Pam Joyner announced that the staff had set up the “Abukar Madey Memorial Fund” with US Bank, to benefit Madey’s family.
The slain boy’s mother, Sahar Omar, is Hosford’s evening custodian, the memo revealed; and it also stated that Madey was a Hosford graduate and was now a Franklin High freshman.
“Siblings of Abukar, the fourth of five children, also attend our schools,” the note continued. “Sahar came to Oregon from Somalia 22 years ago to find freedom and peace. Sahar and her husband Abshir Gair are devastated by their loss.”
Police say they’re looking for these two “persons-of-interest” who they say were at the Holgate Station MAX Light Rail Station when the shootings occurred.
UPDATE:
Detectives say they believe this man, 18 year old Silvano Daniel Velasquez, is responsible for the shooting at the Holgate MAX Light Rail Station.
On October 24, PPB Homicide Detectives arrested 18 year old Silvano Daniel Velasquez in connection with the case, Simpson later said.
Velasquez was booked into the Velasquez was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at 7:01 p.m. and faces charges of Murder, Attempted Murder, Unlawful use of a Weapon, and Assault in the First Degree with combined bail set at more than $500,000.
“The female suspect previously shown in the crime stoppers bulletin has been identified and has not been charged at this time in this investigation,” added Simpson.
Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding this investigation to please call Detective Mark Slater at 503-823-9319 or Detective Erik Kammerer at 503-823-0762.
© 2013 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News