Week #149 Shooting Report | INCLUDES VIDEO | 19 PHOTOS | In addition to this week’s shooting, see what special missions – and other law enforcement efforts – Portland Police Bureau officers have been engaged in to make outer East Portland a safer place, lately …
Responding to shootings, or in special crime-reduction missions, our Portland Police Bureau officers are at work, rain or shine.
Story and some photos by David F. Ashton
With what we thought could be a lull in high-violence crime this week, we used our resources to compile many of the recent “success stories” that Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers have had in the last several days.
Read on to see these achievement stories. But first, word of a shooting near Lents Park …
April 20
Shooting near Lents Park
A heavy downpour doesn’t seem to bother the officers investigating a shooting, a half block west of Lents Park.
However, the tranquility of the week was shattered in the late afternoon of April 20, in the Lents neighborhood. PPB East Precinct officers were dispatched to a “Shots Fired” call at 4:20 p.m.
They were first dispatched to SE 92nd Avenue, adjacent to Walker Stadium, along the east side of Lents Park. However, within minutes, officers were redirected to the west side of Lents Park, on SE Liebe Street, between 87th and 88th Avenues.
Officers begin to get the facts about this shooting, looking for damage to parked cars.
About midblock, mostly on the northern side of the narrow street, were numerous yellow evidence marker – each one showing the location of a spent bullet casing.
Officers canvassed the area, looking for bullet holes in vehicles parked along the street, and in the walls of houses facing the road.
The street is littered with spent bullet casings, and evidence markers.
PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen confirmed that their Focused Intervention Team came to investigate. “There was one vehicle found nearby with bullet holes in it but the occupants ran away and were not located,” he told East Portland News. “There were no known injuries; and so far, no arrests have been made,” he added.
Take a look at this brief video, and see officers investigating this crime:
If you can provide investigators information about this shooting in Lents, e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and refer to Case No. 23-102322.
Our officers, on crime-fighting missions
Actions taken on dedicated crime-fighting missions by our police officers have ranged recently from confiscating guns possessed by convicted felons, to taking illegal (and often deadly) drugs from sellers, to putting the heat on car thieves, and to reducing rampant retail theft.
‘Gun Party’ in Pleasant Valley
After received multiple calls about an escalating fight in the early hours of April 8, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched at 1:43 a.m. to SE Foster Road near 139th Avenue, on a “Suspicious-with-Weapon” report.
These were two of the guns seized at a Pleasant Valley party. PPB image
“This was a ‘party’ that devolved into arguments and gun-pointing,” a PPB official stated. “Officers arrested two, and seized multiple guns; both suspects were charged with unlawful possession of a loaded firearm.”
If you have information about this case, e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and reference Case No. 23-90258.
Brooklyn shooting leads to Foster-Powell gun seizure
While it’s typically noisy on the border of the Union Pacific Railroad yard on the east side of the Willamette River, at least one person heard gunshots, on Saturday evening, April 8 – in the area where southbound SE 22nd Avenue dead-ends into Gladstone Street – and called the 9-1-1 Center to report it.
PPB Central Precinct officers were dispatched to the area at 7:48 p.m. to investigate this “Suspicious-with Weapon” call. “At the scene, officers found evidence of gunfire in the area, and obtained a suspect vehicle description,” a PPB spokesperson reported.
Officers find lots of “shooting evidence” near a railroad car in the Brooklyn rail yard. PPB image
About ten minutes later, PPB East Precinct officers spotted the suspect car, and stopped it along SE. Powell Boulevard approaching 82nd Avenue of Roses
“A gun was recovered from the car and the passenger was arrested,” the PPB spokesperson added. “Officers determined that he fired the gun into the air; but the suspect is a felon, who isn’t legally allowed to possess a firearm.”
This is the gun that police say they took from a felon they arrested. PPB image
Portland Police declined to name the arrested felon, however. But if you can provide information about this case, e-mail it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and reference Case No. 23-90961.
‘Retail Theft Mission’ curtails ‘boosters’ at Eastport Plaza
While being fueled by pizza in the PPB East Precinct meeting room, officers get briefed before they head out on a “Retail Theft Mission”. PPB image
On April 10, PPB East Precinct Officers, including the Neighborhood Response Team, worked with local retailers at Eastport Plaza Shopping Center to target active shoplifting and criminal activity in the area.
This is one of the some-twenty suspects arrested in conducting this mission. PPB image
Officers seize these poorly-made “M” tablets, likely containing fentanyl. PPB image
The mission was in conjunction with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Transit Police, Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney’s office and MCDCJ Parole & Probation.
This mission resulted in:
Custodies: 19
Felony Charges: 18
Misdemeanor Charges: 5
Felony Warrants: 9
Misdemeanor Warrants: 10
Criminal Citations: 3
Violation Citations: 4
Subject Contacts: 6
Vehicle Stops: 39
Vehicles Eluded: 3
Spike Strip Deployment: 2
Elude on Foot : 1
Officers find stolen vehicles and drugs, as well as shoplifters. PPB image
Wait! There’s more results from this mission:
Stolen Vehicles Towed: 5
Other Vehicles Towed 5
Stolen Vehicles’ Value $40,000
Methamphetamine seized (grams): 37
Pills/Fentanyl seized: 44
Retail Theft/Recovery Amount: $145.93
Teens busted with stolen car and gun, in Powellhurst-Gilbert
On the evening of April 14 five teenagers were joyriding around outer East Portland – in a stolen car. When officers pulled over the car on SE Powell Boulevard at 120th Avenue, they found that it was occupied with five juveniles, between 13-17 years of age.
This is the stolen gun found in the stolen car occupied by five criminal youths. PPB image
Both the handgun and vehicle were stolen in Gresham. While the “driver” was booked to Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center; the others were released to go home with family members. Some may face gun charges, pending the outcome of an investigation.
Vehicles recovered in Operation: Stolen Vehicle
Throughout the day, officers focus their attention on stolen vehicles, and those driving them. PPB image
Statically, every 48 minutes, a car is stolen in Portland – most of them in East Portland.
The focus of a contingent of PPB East Precinct officers on April 15 was on conducting a Stolen Vehicle Operation (SVO).
“East Precinct officers, sergeants, and lieutenants noticed a need in the community to combat stolen-vehicle theft, and their use in additional crimes in our Precinct,” East Precinct Commander Erica Hurley told reporters. “Together, they created these remarkable stolen-vehicle missions – that went from good to great, with the use of data driven policing.
In 2021, at work in a patrol car during the pandemic, is Commander Erica Hurley. East Portland News archive image
“This is an example of the dedicated hard work and creative problem-solving by East Precinct Officers,” Hurley added.
This is one of the 11 arrests in an operation that also resulted in 33 stops with 14 stolen vehicles recovered, and 2 recovered firearms. PPB image
Oh yes, officers did also seized this Sig Sauer .40 semiautomatic handgun during the stolen car mission, too. PPB image
Officers from this SVO also hand out wheel locking devices to those that had their vehicle recovered. PPB image
Stolen Vehicle Patrols continue April 18
Here’s one of suspects being taken into custody during the NRT’s latest mission at Eastport Plaza. PPB image
On April 18, the PPB’s East Precinct Neighborhood Response Team conducted their weekly directed patrol around Eastport Plaza.
Even more solid results:
12 Custodies
12 Felony charges
16 Warrants cleared
03 Stolen Vehicles recovered
All of this enforcement action was based on self-initiated criminal interdiction.
Yet another arrest takes place during their latest mission. PPB image
East Precinct continues to run these operations using a data-driven and evidence-based approach to conduct fewer stops, but with better outcomes, Commander Hurley said. East Precinct has partnered with OHSU’s Knight Cancer Research Institute in using statistical analysis in addressing stolen vehicles in the community.
Congratulations to our PPB East Precinct officers and teams for doing good work which pays off in increased safety for us all.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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