Third shooting death at Sumner neighborhood ‘Homicide Hotel’

UPDATED: Week #239 Shooting Report | INCLUDES INVESTIGATION VIDEO | 2024 ends with a teen brandishing an assault weapon. And, Portland Police officers investigate the third fatal shooting in the parking lot of a hotel on NE 82nd Avenue of Roses …

As 2024 came to an end, Portland Police Bureau officers are again called to look into weapon and shooting incidents in outer East Portland.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Astoundingly, three men have now been shot to death in the parking lot of a single hotel – across from The Grotto – on three different occasions.

More about the latest deadly shooting, on December 31 coming up. But first, the story of a teen, who Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers caught red-handed with a big gun …

December 30
Salem teen caught flashing a firearm in Montavilla

After a teen is seen with an assault-style rifle near a Montavilla fast-food restaurant, police move in to look for him.

More than one person called the 9-1-1 Center about a teenager brandishing a semiautomatic rifle on NE 82nd Avenue of Roses, about a block north of East Burnside Street, late on Monday morning, December 30.

PPB officers were dispatched to the area as a “Threat-with-Weapon” incident at 11:38 a.m. On their way there, officers were radioed information that “the suspect had a black and red rifle that the callers believed was fake.”

After scouting the area around a Wendy’s restaurant, near the intersection of NE Davis Street, officers came up empty-handed – but they broadened their search, and kept looking.

Near Vestal Elementary School, officers set up a containment area and prepare to take the armed suspect into custody.

Officers’ radios crackled with updated information that the suspect was walking away with a group of juveniles, heading west on the stub of NE Everett Street, beside Vestal Elementary School – which was shuttered for the Holidays.

At NE 81st Avenue and Flanders Street, officers spotted the suspect and his “crew” and took him into custody – and confiscated his not-fake and fully loaded .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle.

No fake gun here: this ‘AR style’ .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle was loaded with ammo, officers say. PPB image

The suspect, a 15-year-old boy from Salem, was taken to the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention facility and booked on charges of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm in Public (city code), as well as a probation violation warrant.

If you have information about this incident, and have not already spoken with investigators, contact crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and state that it’s about Case No. 24-332668.

December 31
Third deadly shooting on New Year’s Eve at ‘Homicide Hotel’

For the third time, the PPB’s new Mobile Command Unit again set up in the parking lot of this Sumner neighborhood hotel.

On November 20, in our Week #233 Shooting Report, a shooting murder took place in the westerly parking lot of the Quality Inn hotel, just north of NE Sandy Boulevard on 82nd Avenue of Roses, across from Skidmore Street.

Then, our Week #235 Shooting Report detailed how another man was shot to death on December 4 – at the same hotel, in the same parking lot.

Watch, as officers, detectives and CSIs gather evidence in this, the most recent shooting at this outer East Portland lodging:

Wrapping the year for deadly outer East Portland shootings, on Tuesday evening, December 31, a third man was gunned down – in the same parking lot, of the same outer East Portland hotel as two others.

Out of view, behind PPB Homicide Unit detectives and officers, a dead shooting victim was sprawled on the pavement.

“I walk by here all the time to catch my bus, and lately I’ve been kinda duckn’ for cover because of all the shootings,” a passer-by told East Portland News, as he stopped briefly to watch the investigation of the latest shooting at the same location unfold.

“Look, right there, the guy is just there, dead, right on the pavement – they ought to call this place ‘Homicide Hotel’, for sure,” the neighbor remarked.

Officers and investigators continue to gather evidence at the scene.

PPB officials had little to say – other than to confirm that North Precinct officers were dispatched to this “Shooting-with-Weapon” incident at 5:41 p.m.

“When officers arrived, they found an adult male deceased at the scene,” a PPB spokesperson told reporters. “The suspect or suspects left before police arrived, and no immediate arrests were made.”

Soon, the PPB’s Homicide Unit was pulling up at this familiar crime scene once again.

A PPB Forensics Unit worker sets up their FARO Digital Crime Scene documentation instrument, allowing detectives to recreate the scene on computers.

UPDATE

This man, 28-year-old Malik-Devon Terrance Lee Henson, was the victim of this latest shooting at this hotel.

On January 7, 2025, PPB identified the shooting victim as 28-year-old Malik-Devon Terrance Lee Henson, of the Dallas, Texas area. The Medical Examiner determined the victim died of homicide by gunshot wound.

If you have information about this case, and has not already spoken to police, contact Detective Sean Macomber at Sean.Macomber@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0404 or Detective Jeff Pontius at Jeffery.Pontius@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0433 and reference Case No. 24-333724.

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We are hopeful that, in 2025, our East Portland News “Shooting Report” will become less necessary – if fatal shootings decline. To learn when, why, and how, these weekly “Shooting Report” articles began, and why they continue, CLICK HERE.

© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™

 

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