UPDATED | Week #222 Shooting Report | INCLUDES THREE INVESTIGATION VIDEOS | 17 PHOTOS | Our report resumes as shootings – at least two fatal – take place in outer East Portland neighborhoods …
Two shootings in the daytime, and one at night, bring out Portland Police Bureau officers and detectives to investigate these violent crime incidents taking place in outer East Portland.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Since our last Shooting Report, yet more violence by criminals using guns has erupted across our outer East Portland neighborhoods.
In addition to the four major shooting stories, at least two additional “Shooting-with- Weapon” incidents took place, that weren’t mentioned by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officials, including:
Powellhurst Gilbert: 09/12/2024 at 02:41 a.m. – 9100 Block of SE Division Street.
Case No. 24-232932
Lents: 09/13/2024 at 22:31:20 at 10:32 p.m. – 8700 Block of SE Powell Boulevard.
Case No. 24-234788
If you have information about either of these injury shootings, send it by email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov – and refer to the “Case No.”
September 8
Motorcyclist shot in leg while riding in Hazelwood
Officers investigate an attack on a motorcycle rider, shot in the leg while riding his bike in the Hazelwood neighborhood.
A man riding home from work on his motorcycle in the early hours of Sunday, September 8, a man was shot in the leg while traveling on SE Stark Street near 111th Avenue. He slowed, stopped, and fell to the ground.
PPB East Precinct officers located the downed rider after being dispatched to the scene at 12:36 a.m.
-3 The wounded man is loaded into a waiting ambulance.
In addition to the bullet wounds, and holes in the motorcycle, investigators also found bullet holes through apartment building windows and more bullet strikes on the building.
So far, no arrests have been made. If you can provide information about this shooting incident, send it by email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov – and refer to Case No. 24-228970.
September 16
Man is wounded, but police say little about a strange Lents shooting
At the first-dispatched location of this shooting, on SE 91st Avenue, there is police tape – and what looks like discarded clothing, and an unopened water bottle.
It’s unknown why PPB officials aren’t currently willing to provide meaningful information about a daytime shooting that took place on September 16 in the Lents neighborhood.
What makes this incident unusual is that when it was first dispatched to PPB East Precinct officers as a “Shots Fired” call – they were sent to SE 91st Avenue, near 91st Place – across from the eastern edge of the “Marshall School Campus”.
In this yard along SE 91st Avenue, an officer is looking for something, perhaps evidence of some kind, for an unknown reason.
Watch as this shooting investigation takes place in the Lents neighborhood:
When we arrived, yellow police tape was strung across a driveway, beyond which was what looked like discarded clothing – and a single officer was conducting a “front yard search” of the properties.
That officer informed us that ten additional PPB officers had SE 92nd Avenue blocked off just south of Bush Street, and were conducting a shooting investigation there.
The yellow evidence markers and nine police officers verify that the actual shooting took place here, along SE 92nd Avenue.
About 45 minutes after the original dispatch, the incident was switched to be a “Shooting-with-Weapon” call – but it was still centered at the SE 91st Avenue area.
Indeed, SE 92nd Avenue was blocked between Bush and Center streets by police cruisers. In the driveway of the Ninety-Second Avenue Condominiums and the adjacent street, numerous yellow evidence markers showed the position of spent bullet casings.
An officers inspects one of the many bullet shell casings found in the driveway of this condominium complex.
“I heard ten, or maybe a dozen, rapid-fire gunshots while I was working in my garage,” a neighbor told East Portland News. “I go to a gun range, so I know what gunshots sound like!
“I waited for the shooting to stop; a dark colored car went peeling out north [on SE 92nd Avenue]; and a man had bullet wounds to his leg,” he said.
At one of the condominium units, an officer speaks with a witness.
We asked Portland Police specifically why there were two active locations for a single shooting callout. “Officers responded to reports of a shooting, and located an adult male who had been shot,” responded PPB Public Information Manager Mike Benner. “He was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. To my knowledge, no arrests have been made.”
If you can provide helpful information to investigators, about this shooting, send it by email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov – and refer to Case No. 24-237250.
September 17
Shooting brings massive police response to Powellhurst-Gilbert
A morning shooting near the Springwater Corridor Trail attracts as many as 66 law enforcement officers, from Portland Police, Gresham Police Department, and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, in the hunt for the gunman.
After shots rang out in the quiet streets of the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, just south of the Springwater Corridor Trail near SE 136th Avenue – along Knight Street – PPB East Precinct officers were dispatched there.
See members of several law enforcement agencies come into the area as the shooting investigation gets underway:
Officers arrived to find an adult female who had been wounded; she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with what were believed (at the time) to be life-threatening injuries.
Why is the Gresham Police Incident Response truck at this Portland shooting? Well, the PPB’s SERT team was away on a training exercise at the time.
Apparently the officers believed the shooter was still in the area. But, because the PPB’s Special Emergency Reaction Team at training at the Oregon Coast, PPB Public Information Manager Mike Benner told us at the scene that East Metro SWAT, comprised of personnel from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Gresham Police Department, was the agency that came to search for the shooting suspect.
Parents kids home from school
With a shooter on the loose, police put out a “shelter-in-place order” to residents living in the immediate area; and nearby Gilbert Park Elementary School went into lockdown.
“With all this commotion and talk of a shooter here before school started today, I decided to keep my ‘babies’ home; I ain’t sending them off to school, even though it’s just a couple blocks away,” LaWanda Jackson told East Portland News as she nervously watched more police vehicles roll into the area.
Flying high over SE Knight Street is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operated by the Gresham Police Department’s “Drone Squad” officers.
Gresham Police Department – they deployed surveillance drones long before the PPB – had their UAV’s flying, hovering over SE Knight Street. More and more police apparatus and officers – many of them dressed in tactical gear – also arrived.
“I don’t know why they’re making all this fuss; I’m sure the shooter is long gone,” neighbor Pedro Morales whispered to us. “My neighbor said a big dark SUV pulled up, a teenager hopped into it, and it sped away – a few minutes after the shooting, way before the cops pulled up.”
Officers with several policing agencies confer, as (at far right) PPB Public Information Manager Mike Benner listens in.
Nevertheless, as many as 60 police officers, K-9 teams, drone pilots, and SWAT operatives searched yard-to-yard, looking into every shed, backyard, and covered boat in the area – and along the Springwater Corridor Trail as well.
At 6:47 p.m. the search was called off without the suspect being apprehended.
Even more law enforcement vehicles come into the area and park along SE 136th Avenue.
The following day, September 18, the PPB announced at 3:34 p.m. that the shooting victim had died, despite lifesaving measures by staff at the hospital.
Officials say this woman, 38-year-old LaToya M. Hill, was the woman murdered in this shooting. Family-provided photo
The deceased was identified as 38-year-old LaToya M. Hill, Portland. The Medical Examiner determined Hill died of “homicide by gunshot wound”.
Then, on September 19, the shooting suspect, 18-year-old Kamar Nathaniel Gates, turned himself in at PPB’s North Precinct, and he was subsequently arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Gates was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) that afternoon at 5:41 p.m. on charges of Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon. Currently, Gates is being held, without bail, on those charges in the MCDC.
Anyone with information about this incident, who has not spoken with investigators, is asked to contact Detective Michael Schmerber at Michael.Schmerber@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0991 or Detective Jeff Sharp at Jeff.Sharp@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-9773 and reference Case No. 24-237787.
September 19 | UPDATED
Suspect arrested in fatal Hazelwood MAX station shooting
Officers stand in front of a dead man (not visible) who was shot at the TriMet MAX Light Rail Blue Line 148th Avenue station.
“I was startled, but not surprised, to hear several gunshots as I was walking away from the [TriMet MAX Light Rail Blue Line] station on my way home from work,” Linda Gainsworth told East Portland News as she watched more police flood the area west of 148th Avenue along East Burnside Street on Thursday evening, September 19.
See officers investigate this fatal shooting at the TriMet MAX Light Rail Blue Line in the Hazelwood neighborhood:
The street was shut down, and the trains weren’t running, after PPB East Precinct officers were sent to the shooting site at 7:26 p.m. – at the 148th Avenue TriMet MAX Light Rail platform.
Investigators focus a great deal of attention on this transient camp, along the TriMet MAX Light Rail Blue Line tracks.
More officers arrive at the MAX station platform, as the shooting homicide investigation continues.
Arriving officers found a deceased male victim. Talking with witnesses, officers detained a man while the investigation began.
The PPB’s Homicide Unit detectives, and Forensics Unit workers were called in and conducted an investigation that ran long into the night.
On September 20, the PPB revealed that the “detained subject” had indeed been arrested.
Law enforcement agencies are forbidden to provide booking photos taken after a suspect is arrested, under Oregon State law, prior to conviction. Thus, you’re not allowed to see the MCDC booking photo of Felix Angelo Juarez-Perez – or any other suspected felon – taken after their arrest. CLICK HERE for details.
The suspect, identified as 42-year-old Felix Angelo Juarez-Perez was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) on September 20 at 1:36 a.m. on charges of Murder in the Second Degree, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.
At his arraignment, he was also was booked on an additional Felony charge of Deliver of Methamphetamine. Currently, Juarez-Perez continues to be lodged, without bail, in the MCDC.
UPDATE:
Officials say that his man, 24-year-old Taysean Nash, was the person killed on the MAX Light Rail station that night. Family provided photo
On September 24, PPB officials revealed that 24-year-old Taysean Nash of Portland was the individual who was killed in this shooting homicide. The Medical Examiner determined Nash died of homicide by gunshot wound.
“He touched many lives and had friends from all walks of life,” Nash’s mother said. “He loved and protected all of his siblings no matter what. And he is very much loved by many.”
If you have information about this incident, and have not yet spoken with investigators, contact Detective Calvin Goldring at Calvin.Goldring@police.portlandoregon.gov or Detective Rico Beniga at Rico.Beniga@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 24-240253.
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It’s astonishing to think that this is our 222th edition of the East Portland News “Shooting Report” as we wrap it up. While we hope there won’t be additional future reports in this series, as long as shootings continue, so will these articles.
To learn when, why, and how, these weekly “Shooting Report” articles began, and why they will continue, CLICK HERE.
© 2024 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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