Man charged with Attempted Murder in Hazelwood TriMet MAX shooting

See how law enforcement spotted the suspect and arrested him, in a new outer East Portland shooting …

Portland Police Bureau and Transit Police officers gather evidence on the platform next to the TriMet MAX Light Rail Blue Line near SE 122nd Avenue.

By David F. Ashton

Fortunately, there weren’t many riders on the MAX Blue Line, early on Friday, January 30 – when gunshots were heard on an eastbound train on East Burnside Street near SE 122nd Avenue.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers, dispatched to the incident at 1:03 a.m., found a stopped train, and an adult male victim – who was seriously injured. An officer applied two tourniquets to the victim’s leg before ambulance paramedics arrived.

Red tape inside the light rail train indicates the scene of the crime.

“The victim was taken to a local hospital by ambulance with serious injuries, but he is expected to survive,” a PPB spokesperson told reporters.

After getting a description of the suspected shooter, an officer spied him walking away from the location. That officer called for backup from Transit Police officers, and together they challenged, then arrested, the suspect nearby on SE 122nd Avenue.

Portland Police and Transit Police look for the shooting suspect.

At the time, that man was with a woman, who was also detained pending further investigation. The PPB’s Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) responded to pursue the case.

The arrested suspect has been identified as 71-year-old Grover S. Phill, a/k/a Michael Phill, and he was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at 10:04 a.m. the same day – on charges of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Felon in Possession of a Restricted Weapon (brass knuckles).

Currently, Phill is being held without bail in Inverness Jail, pending his next court appearance.

Officers located this black Ruger semi-automatic pistol, with a loaded magazine, and seized it as evidence in the shooting that took place aboard MAX. PPB image

If you have information about this case, please contact crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, Attn ECST, and refer to Case No. 26-28628.

Images courtesy Night Stringers Television News

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