SHOOTING REPORT | Learn about our first shooting of the year, and who was arrested for it. Also see what our PPB Focused Intervention Team has been doing. Plus, find out who was arrested this week for a fatal shooting back in October. It’s all right here …
Sadly, outer East Portland logs its first shooting of 2023 the evening of January 1 here, at a corner familiar for shooting violence.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
As 2023 started, it seemed as if outer East Portland would get off to a non-violent beginning. All was quiet on January 1st – other than numerous “Shots Fired” calls, mostly due to illegal fireworks being set off – from midnight, throughout the day. But the lack of crime was not to last.
New Year’s Day robbery, shooting in Hazelwood
However it turned out that January 1 wouldn’t end without at least one shooting. At 8:25 p.m., Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to East Burnside Street, just west of 122nd Avenue, on a “Shooting-with Weapon” call – the first one of the New Year.
Evidence markers in hand, an officer heads off to mark the location of spent bullet casings at this crime scene.
The person who called the 9-1-1 Center to report a shooting wasn’t clear about the exact location. However, Officers arrived promptly and, near the Food Mart on the southwest corner of the intersection, found a man who appeared to have been shot several times.
Portland Fire & Rescue’s Mill Park Station 7 Engine Company’s paramedics were the first to arrive, and stabilized the victim. The wounded person was taken to local hospital by ambulance with serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries.
An officer looks for evidence after this shooting.
While some officers secured the crime scene, others – about 13 of them, including Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) detectives – began canvassing the area, contacting witnesses and collecting surveillance footage.
It didn’t take long for detectives to finger a suspect. On January 2nd, 60-year-old Parrish Riggins Jr, was identified, located, and arrested – along with a gun, and a stash of suspected illegal drugs.
These are some of the allegedly illegal drugs Riggs had on his person when arrested; and, the gun he allegedly used. PPB images
Riggins was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at 1:33 a.m. on numerous charges. At his arraignment, Riggins learned he was charged with five (5) Felonies, including Attempted Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and Robbery in the First Degree.
Here’s one the spent bullet casings, with Evidence Marker #1, found by ECST detectives, along East Burnside Street.
While police officials suggested that additional charges associated with the drugs seized at the time of Riggins’ arrest were expected, after arraignment no additional charges were filed. Currently, though, Riggins is being held in Inverness Jail without bail.
FIT arrests one man, two youth with guns in Centennial
Reckless driving leads officers to stop a vehicle – containing an armed and previously-convicted felon traveling with armed teen hooligans.
On January 3, 2023 at 8:37 p.m., officers assigned to the PPB’s Focused Intervention Team (FIT) were patrolling in the “Rosewood” area, known for many reported shootings, when they noticed a gold Infiniti sedan driving recklessly.
They initiated a traffic stop on the car, and the driver stopped in a parking lot near the Su Casa Super Mercado on SE Stark Street, just west of 162nd Avenue.
The adult suspect, and his teenage buddies, were well-equipped to commit crimes – they were armed with these guns, which police say they possessed during their arrests.
“The officers could see that there was a pistol on the floorboard underneath the driver,” a PPB official reported. “The two passengers in the vehicle, both juvenile males, were also in possession of handguns.”
All three in the car were safely removed and arrested.
You’re not allowed to see the booking photo of 24-year-old Key’Juan Davidmarqui Smith. CLICK HERE to learn why.
The driver, 24-year-old Key’Juan Davidmarqui Smith of Portland, is a previouysly convicted felon and is out on pretrial release for another current shooting case. He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at 9:37 p.m. that evening on charges of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm in Public.
However, after his arraignment, a judge “released” Smith’s most recent Felony and Misdemeanor charges. However, court records show that Smith is still in jail on an Attempted Aggravated Murder charge, a Class A Felony, in lieu of $15,000 bail. Part of that case also includes ten (10) more Felony charges.
The two teens in the car – one 16 and the other 17 years old, both from Gresham – were charged with Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm in Public. They were taken to the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center, from which they could potentially have been released back into our community.
Suspect arrested in October Centennial shooting homicide
Officers investigate what would become Portland’s 79th homicide, and would also be another gunfire murder in outer East Portland.
On Tuesday, October 18, at 8:40 p.m., East Precinct officers were dispatched on a “Shooting-with-Weapon” call in the Fred Meyer parking lot on SE Division Street near 147th Avenue.
Officers found a critically-wounded man; he was taken to a local hospital by ambulance for treatment.
This man, 30-year-old Ian L. Beyers, died as a result of being gunned down in the corner of the Fred Meyer parking lot. Family-provided photo
However, on October 25, PPB Homicide Division detectives were notified that the victim had died. The Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as 30-year-old Ian L. Beyers; and determined that the cause of his death was “delayed complications from a gunshot wound”, and the manner of death was homicide.
Then, on January 4, at 10:44 p.m., the Washington County Sheriff’s office arrested 37-year-old Travis Raymond Helms in the 7900 block of SW 74th Avenue.
Sorry, you’re not permitted to see the booking photo of suspected murderer 37-year-old Travis Raymond Helms. CLICK HERE for the details.
Helms had previously been indicted by a Multnomah County Grand Jury for the October homicide. PPB Homicide detectives interviewed Helms. Helms was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on January 5 at 2:51 a.m. on charges of Murder in the First Degree, Murder in the Second Degree, Robbery in the First Degree, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Currently Helms is still being held in the MCDC on County “Hold” combined bail of $65,000, in addition to the no-bail Felony murder charges.
And, so it goes. Stay safe.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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