Man dies in Hazelwood apartment complex shooting

UPDATED: SUSPECT CAPTURED > INCLUDES HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION VIDEO | Here’s what we learned about a deadly outer East Portland shooting on Sunday evening. Now, including the victim’s identity …

Along East Burnside Street, near 105th Avenue in the Hazelwood neighborhood, many Portland Police Bureau vehicles — including their venerable Mobile Command Unit — are gathered as a murder investigation gets underway.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Officials have revealed little about the shooting that killed a man at the Cascade Crossing Apartments, at 10535 East Burnside Street, on Sunday evening, March 9th.

But, a person who claimed to have been nearby told East Portland News that an escalating quarrel could be heard between at least two people before there were several gunshots near the front of the building, facing the TriMet MAX Light Rail tracks.

PPB officers, detectives and forensic investigators look for evidence outside an apartment unit – an area bounded by red crime scene tape.

When three the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) three East Precinct officers arrived at 7:07 p.m. they found a male victim dead on the ground, apparently shot.

Here you can see the officers and investigators at work at the scene of this deadly shooting:

As light rain began to fall, the westbound lanes of East Burnside Street were closed down from NE 102nd to 108th Avenues.

It didn’t take long for as many as 18 PPB officers, investigators, and Homicide Unit detectives to converge on the scene.

Apartment residents, witnesses, and perhaps family members, gather on the sidewalk outside the complex after the fatal shooting.

A member of the PPB Forensics Unit sets up a FARO Crime Scene Documentation Unit.

“No arrests have been made,” said a PPB official afterward.

UPDATE:

On March 17th, the PPB revealed: “The man killed in this shooting has been identified as 33-year-old Kevin Rhinehart, of Portland.

The Medical Examiner determined that Rhinehart, died of homicide by gunshot wound. The investigation is continuing.”

See second update, below …

2nd UPDATE:

On April 10 PPB Homicide Unit detectives revealed that on April 7, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested 35-year-old Che Bell, 35, of Portland, in Killeen, Texas.

Bell is currently being held in the Bell County Jail on the following charges: Murder in the Second Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Bell will be extradited back to Oregon, but the timing of the extradition is unclear at this point.

If you have information about this homicide, and haven’t yet spoken to investigators, contact Detective Joseph Corona at joseph.corona@police.portlandoregon.gov (503) 823-0508 or Detective Jennifer Hertzler at jennifer.hertzler@police.portlandoregon.gov (503) 823-1040 – and refer to Case No. 25-061720.

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