INCLUDES 2 INVESTIGATION VIDEOS | 15 PHOTOS | This week, three major shootings in Montavilla, Mill Park, and Parkrose, kept Portland Police very busy in the past week …
Shootings bring Portland Police Bureau officers, detectives, and medical personnel to shootings in three outer East Portland neighborhoods this week.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
The three major shooting incidents in outer East Portland neighborhoods raised concerns that number of violent people who are committing crimes with guns could be on the rise. Certainly the number of incidents seem to be.
Indeed, across the City of Portland, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers, detectives, and special unit members investigated a number of other shootings.
September 19
People attending Montavilla vigil ‘sprayed with bullets’
For the second time in 18 hours, officers are called in when a shooting takes place at this Montavilla mini mall.
The PPB didn’t release official information about the shooting on Friday evening, September 19. A swarm of 29 officers, detectives, and Forensics Division members were dispatched to this “Shooting-with-Weapon” report at 8:19 p.m., at the intersection of SE 82nd Avenue of Roses and Harrison Street.
Watch, as detectives and officers gather evidence after this shooting at a vigil:
This was the very location, in the wee hours of September 18th, where 45-year-old Garvin Franklin Jr. was gunned down in front of Buddy’s Lounge, in the Universal Center mini mall.
The alleged assailant, 37-year-old Brandon Lewis, was arrested, and is currently being held without bail at Inverness Jail. CLICK HERE to read about last week’s shooting.
PPB officers and detectives find an astonishingly large number of spent bullet shell casings on the sidewalk, just outside the entrance to the mini mall.
Lining up to do an inch-by-inch search of SE Harrison Street, officers start their slow walk, examining the pavement ahead of them, eastward on SE Harrison Street.
At the scene of this shooting, a day later, witnesses told East Portland News and other reporters that a group of people were holding a vigil for Garvin Franklin Jr. on the sidewalk outside the outside the drive-through’s covered entrance to the mall on SE Harrison Street.
One witness, a military veteran, said he heard about 40 gunshots, fired very fast one after another – and then the squealing tires of a vehicle quickly racing out of the area.
At the corner of SE Harrison Street and 82nd Avenue of Roses, these evidence markers indicate that nearly 90 spent bullet shell casings were found in the street.
“Two adults, one male and one female, were shot and transported to the hospital by ambulance; another adult male showed up later at the hospital in a private vehicle – all with non-life-threatening injuries,” Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen later told East Portland News.
“A fourth person, an adult female, had a possible graze wound, or shrapnel wound, on her leg, and she self-treated the injury,” he noted.
A PPB Focused Intervention Team (FIT) member arrives, along with officers from the PPB Enhanced Community Safety Team.
Along with the officers, members of the Portland Police Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) investigated the shooting.
So far, no arrests have been made. If you have information about this incident, and have not spoken to police, e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, Attn: ECST, and indicate that it’s about Case No. 25-258843.
September 20
Man wounded in Mill Park shootout with police
On the sunny Saturday morning, two days before the official start of autumn, this Mill Park neighborhood gas station became the scene of a shootout between a suspected armed robber and police officers. Courtesy KGW-TV News 8
This incident actually started in the Lents neighborhood, beginning as a “Threat-with-Weapon” dispatch for PPB East Precinct officers on Saturday morning, September 20, at 8:42 a.m. The location was the Space Age gas station on SE Foster Road at 84th Avenue
Arriving officers learned that a male adult, with a firearm, had threatened an employee at the service station before fleeing the scene.
After the shooting, the gas station property becomes a crime scene, and the investigation gets underway. Courtesy KATU-2 ABC
Fast forward 30 minutes: Alert officers spotted the suspect about four miles to the north northeast, at the Jackson’s Shell service station at SE 122nd Avenue and Division Street.
“As officers conducted a ‘high-risk’ traffic stop, there was an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who was struck,” a PPB official told reporters. “Officers rendered aid before the individual was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Here’s a bullet hole in one car at the scene. PPB image
Portland Police says this SAR9 pistol is the weapon used by the shooting suspect. PPB image
None of the officers, or bystanders, were wounded. The alleged shooter’s gun was recovered at the scene. At least one bullet struck a PPB vehicle and one struck a bystander’s vehicle.
So far, the name of the alleged gunman has not been revealed.
If you have information about this incident, and has not already spoken to police, contact homicidetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and make reference to Case No. 25-259271.
September 22
‘Camper’ shot dead in Parkrose
On an otherwise unusually quiet Monday night in Parkrose, a fatal shooting brings officers to this side street along NE Sandy Boulevard.
Shots rang out on Monday night, September 22, along the stub of NE 102nd Avenue north of Sandy Boulevard that dead-ends at Killingsworth Street – lately, a popular location for people camping in vehicles.
PPB North Precinct officers sent to this shooting incident at 11:06 p.m., were incorrectly sent to NE 101st Avenue, a block west of the actual location.
See the aftermath of this shooting, as the homicide investigation gets underway:
“When officers arrived at the correct location, they found a male victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds; that man died at the scene,” was the terse information provided by a PPB spokesperson.
An officer places yellow evidence markers over bullet shell casings at the scene of this shooting.
Officers had wrapped the perimeter of the Jackson’s Shell gas station with yellow tape – and the cordoned-off area extended across NE 102nd Avenue, effectively closing the street.
SE Sandy Boulevard remained open to traffic; but soon, the vehicles of 20 PPB officers and detectives, as well as the new PPB Mobile Command Center, were parked along the street and in the gas station’s parking lot.
Clipboard in hand, this officer documents evidence found at the scene.
An investigator examines the truck reported to be associated with the deceased.
As PPB Homicide Unit detectives arrived, District Patrol officers went back to their coverage areas to resume routine patrol.
The focus of the investigation was a yellow box truck – or delivery van – parked with its front passenger-side door open, facing southbound along the sidewalk. Near the truck was an ambulance gurney, on which the victim lay under a sheet.
At this time, the deceased has not been identified. And, the PPB has been mum about any suspects in this shooting murder.
Because it looks like a “long night” for officers, detectives, and forensic workers, an officer walks around the PPB Mobile Command Unit, bringing coffee.
Should you have information about this incident, send an email to this special address: Homicidetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, call 503-823-0479. When you do, reference Case No. 25-261972.
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™