UPDATED | Officials are saying very little about this, Portland’s first shooting homicide of 2026, right here, in outer East Portland …
Numerous Portland Police Bureau vehicles fill SE Harold Street as Portland’s first shooting homicide investigation gets underway. Courtesy KPTV Fox 12 News
By David F. Ashton
Portland’s first shooting homicide of the New Year took place on early on Monday morning, January 26, on a rural section of SE Harold Street near 133rd Avenue.
A caller to the 9-1-1 Center reported a person “who was not breathing” – which brought an ambulance to the location at 2:32 a.m.
This ambulance leaves without a patient; he was dead at the scene, official say. Courtesy KATU-TV2 News
When the paramedics arrived, they quickly realized why the person wasn’t breathing – he had several gunshot wounds. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were soon at the incident.
Although the paramedics attempted lifesaving measures, the victim died at the scene.
Listening to the playback of on online service that monitors emergency calls, it became clear to us that paramedics reported to dispatchers that a person had been shot – multiple times in the chest – and that firefighters were removing a gun from the back of a car.
The PPB’s older Mobile Command Unit was brought in to serve as headquarters for Homicide Unit detectives and crime scene investigators. Courtesy KGW-TV8 News
PPB Homicide Unit detectives were requested, and began an investigation. At this point no arrest has yet been announced.
Update
On February 2, the PPB revealed that the shooting victim has been identified as 17-year-old Kenneth Smith III, of Portland. The Medical Examiner determined Smith III died of homicide by gunshot wound.
Ranking as one of the largest neighborhoods in Portland by population – with more than 32,000 residents, based on the 2020 census, and covering 3.44 square miles – last year, the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood experienced 41 shooting incidents, coming in second only to outer East Portland’s Hazelwood neighborhood, where there were 50 of them.
If you have information about this case, send an email to homicidetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 26-24603.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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