Week #157 Shooting Report | INCLUDES TWO INVESTIGATORY VIDEOS | SEE 15 CRIME SCENE PHOTOS | Teens shooting and being shot, victims wounded – hopefully this isn’t the start of a thrust toward more shootings again …
Night after night, Portland Police Bureau officers, and specialty crime-fighting teams, continue to be dispatched to shootings in outer East Portland.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Here’s the 157th edition of the East Portland News “Weekly Shooting Report”. When and how did the shooting carnage begin? CLICK HERE to learn when shooting violence in outer East Portland started rapidly increasing – and why.
June 9
Fleeing teenage suspects lead to gun arrests in Powellhurst-Gilbert
SE 136th Avenue is closed off north of Harold Street, as officers try to stop a absconding vehicle.
This incident started on Friday evening, June 9, at 7:11 p.m. That’s when Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers and their Focused Intervention Team (FIT) tried to stop a car, suspected to be involved in criminal activity, on SE Holgate Boulevard near 114th Avenue.
The FIT officers watched as the car careened through Powellhurst-Gilbert streets. When they attempted to stop the car, it took off and a pursuit began.
Officers from the PPB’s East Precinct, the K9 Unit, and from Gresham came to assist.
It didn’t take long for 23 officers to be pouring into the area for assistance.
Along SE 136th Avenue officers wait and watch, as a PPB SERT squad makes contact with two teens – toting guns – who ducked into a house on Steele Street.
The car sped east on Holgate Boulevard, and turned south on 136th Avenue.
An officer successfully threw “spike strips” in front of the eluding car. As the car’s slashed tires were going flat, the car turned west, down the dead-end stub of SE Steele Street.
“Two of the occupants ran from the car, and three stayed in the car,” reported a PPB PIO Sgt. Kevin Allen.
“At the scene, officers saw firearm magazines lying on the floor of the car,” Sgt. Allen continued. “Additional information suggested that the suspects were armed with a rifle, and officers identified the home they’d entered.”
Although Portland Police officials didn’t acknowledge it, the armored SERT truck parked on the street made it clear that that unit’s officers had been called in to arrest the armed suspects.
Officers set up a perimeter around the home, and spoke to someone inside by telephone. Eventually, the two suspects who had run from the vehicle cooperated and came out of the home, and were taken into custody.
FIT officers were able to obtain a search warrant for the home in the 13500 block of Southeast Steele Street and inside they found two guns, and other evidence.
These are the “AR”-style guns officers took as evidence. PPB image
A 17-year-old was arrested and transported to Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Home (JDH) where he was lodged for Unlawful Possession of Firearm, Elude in a Vehicle, Elude on Foot, Reckless Driving, and Reckless Endangering of another person.
18-year-old Anthony Hunter was not booked into jail; instead, he was issued a citation to appear in court for Elude on Foot and Interfering with a Police Officer and released.
This incident was assigned Case No. 23-152171.
June 12
Man wounded in Lents Town Center shooting
In the Lents neighborhood, after shooting trouble again breaks out along SE Ramona Street, officers come in to investigate.
This incident, on June 12 in the Lents neighborhood, dispatched PPB East Precinct officers at 9:23 p.m. to the dead-end stub of SE Ramona Street, at the end of 92nd Avenue near the base of the elevated TriMet MAX Light Rail station.
Watch our video taken at the scene of this investigation:
Among the dozen officers at the scene were two PPB Canine teams, sniffing out evidence.
The investigation kept the street closed to both pedestrians and motor vehicles.
Officers speak with witnesses and others near the scene of this shooting.
“Officers who responded and located a subject with a gunshot wound to his neck,” is what PPB Public Information Officer Lt. Nathan Sheppard told East Portland News the next morning. “The injured man was transported to a local hospital, where doctors told officers the injury was non-life-threatening.”
It’s unclear if this man, handcuffed at the incident, was arrested, cited, or released.
“The subject who allegedly shot the man stayed at the scene, Lt. Sheppard said, but he declined to indicate whether the shooter was arrested or just cited.
“The PPB Major Crimes Unit detectives responded and assumed control of the investigation; this case is open and active,” concluded Lt. Sheppard.
This shooting incident is Case No. 23-155100.
June 13
Neighbor says ‘drug deal gone bad’ leaves teens shot near Mt. Scott Park
After the shooting victims are taken to local hospitals, officers examined this VW Jetta, left behind just east of Mt. Scott Park.
After shots were heard in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood on Tuesday evening, June 13, the PPB East Precinct officers who were dispatched to this “Shooting-with Weapon” quickly responded to the east side of Mt. Scott City Park. There they found a black VW Jetta, stopped facing north, near the center of SE 74th Avenue near Reedway Street, and three teens – two of them with gunshot wounds.
Watch as officers canvas the area, take crime scene photos, and investigate this shooting:
“The two victims were taken to a local hospital by ambulance,” PPB Public Information Officer Lt. Nathan Sheppard later told East Portland News about the incident.
“A third person was at the scene – an 18-year-old male who was shot at, but not struck or injured,” the PPB official told us.
There’s plenty of evidence to find at the scene of this shooting.
Soon, 16 officers and detectives had closed off the street to begin the investigation.
Neighbor suspects a ‘drug rip-off’
While this shooting investigation got underway, one of the many neighbors out walking dogs in the park stopped to talk. Later that evening, a man, who asked not to be identified, sent an email about what he found.
“It was about drugs; my dog, Helga Huffelpuff, found about 1 to 2 pounds of ‘weed’ in the park as we were walking, east of the gravel trail,” the neighbor wrote. “It was as if the shooter ran with the bag, and dumped it [between the road] and the east side of the trees.”
Lt. Sheppard didn’t respond to our query about whether drugs were involved in this incident.
Two teens were wounded, and a third shot at, in and around this car near Mt. Scott Park.
The PPB’s Focused Intervention Team, Enhanced Community Safety Team, and the Forensic Evidence Division all responded to investigate the shooting.
“The suspect or suspects left the scene and were not located; no immediate arrests were made, and the investigation is ongoing,” said Lt. Sheppard.
Investigators check the involved car, inside and out, searching for evidence.
Detectives ask witnesses with information to contribute to contact: crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, Attn: ECST – and refer to Case No. 23-156118.
June 15
Man wounded in accidental shooting near Eastport Plaza
This PPB Sergeant walks by used car lot along SE 82nd Avenue of Roses, where a shooting is suspected to have taken place.
After a shooting was reported on June 15, PPB East Precinct officers were sent at 9:45 p.m. to SE 82nd Avenue of Roses, at Bush Street, in the Foster-Powell neighborhood.
It was difficult to pinpoint the actual location of this shooting. Officers’ attention was focused a block south, at the corner of Francis Street, where they were speaking with people, near the chained-off entrance of the Van Doozer Auto used car lot.
An officer interviews a motorcycle rider; but it’s unclear how the person might be connected to this case.
At the same time, other officers were looking for evidence among the vehicles parked inside the fence of the used car lot.
“PPB’s East Precinct, Focused Intervention Team and Forensic Evidence Division criminalists responded after a man was shot; the patient was not cooperative,” PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen told THE BEE East Portland News the following morning.
In the used car lot, an ECST officer searches for evidence.
“Preliminary investigation suggests the gunshot wound was accidentally self-inflicted,” Sgt. Allen stated.
If you have information about this incident, email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, Attn: ECST, and reference Case No. 23-158024.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Will the all-new-and-improved
“Portland Ceasefire” help
more than “Safer Summer PDX” did?
In June 2022, Portland’s Commissioner of Police, Mayor Ted Wheeler introduced a $2.7 million initiative called “Safer Summer PDX”.
CLICK HERE to be directly linked to the “Final Report” of this project, and judge for yourself its success.
Hopefully the City of Portland’s “investment” of another $4.5 million this summer, funding “Street Level Outreach” initiatives rolled out on June 1 – Mayor Wheeler’s latest stratagem to “reduce gun violence” as he puts it – will make our neighborhoods safer.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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