INCLUDES INVESTIGATION VIDEO | SHOOTING REPORT | Starting in outer East Portland, here’s why Portland Police officers and investigators were working overtime, overnight, last weekend …
White “bullet strike” evidence markers litter the parking lot in front of this private event venue in Hazelwood, after a teenager fires off more than two dozen bullets and injures four people.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Going into summer with shootings on the wane was a good sign – until Friday evening, June 27, and going through Saturday morning – when seven people were injured by gunfire, and four of those were injured in a single incident in outer East Portland.
June 27
Grad party turns into mass shooting, in Hazelwood
Minutes after four shooting victims have been rushed away by ambulance, criminalists from the PPB’s Forensic Evidence Division begin placing evidence markers next to the more than two dozen spent bullet shell casings littering the crime scene.
In the early evening of Friday, June 27, a family had rented the Fellowship & Event Hall in the back corner of a mini-mall at 14919 SE Stark Street, for a graduation party for their stepson – attended by about 100 people.
A family member told reporters that, about 9:40 p.m., a teenager who was not invited to the party appeared angry because he was denied entrance – and began shooting.
Video aftermath: Watch as officers and crime scene investigators gather evidence at this mass-shooting scene:
At 9:43 p.m., Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers, as well as those assigned to their Focused Intervention Team (FIT) were dispatched to the venue. Within minutes, 24 officers were converging at that location.
“Arriving officers located four people with apparent gunshot wounds, including a 15-year-old male, a 23-year-old male, a 32-year-old male, and a 40-year-old female,” a PPB spokesperson reported.
As more PPB staff arrive at the crime scene, others are out tracking down the alleged shooter.
The bullet hole in the windshield of this truck is the first of many found in the area.
“Officers provided trauma first aid until paramedics from Portland Fire & Rescue and an ambulance arrived to provide advanced care,” the official added. “All the injured victims were taken to local hospitals by ambulance; and, while their injuries were serious, due to the emergency treatment at the scene, the victims are expected to survive.”
Although the shooter fled the scene before officers arrived, many of the witnesses gave them a detailed description of the suspect, showed photos of him on their cellphones, and pointed out the direction in which he’d left the area.
The sidewalk in front of the party’s location is strewn with spent bullet shell casings.
Officers look at more damage done by bullets ripping through vehicles parked in the lot.
By 9:56 p.m. a total of 41 officers were responding to this incident, either at the crime scene or setting up a perimeter around the area in which the suspect was believed to be. The callout included PPB drone operators, and K9 Police Dog Teams.
About a mile East Northeast of the crime location, a neighbor flagged down officers on SE 160th Avenue, south of East Burnside Street, and pointed out two people hiding in a backyard shed.
About 15 blocks from the crime scene, on at SE 160th Avenue, south of East Burnside Street officers move in to capture the shooting suspect.
Officers used a loudspeaker to call them out, and two individuals complied with the commands and were taken into custody at 10:43 p.m.
Detectives from the Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) and criminalists from the Forensic Evidence Division went to work, and discovered that the suspect had fired at least 25 bullets which, in addition to injuring the four people, had left bullet holes and strikes on parked vehicles and to other property in the parking lot.
Teenager arrested
Police arrested a 16-year-old male juvenile who resides in Portland, and booked him into the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Facility on charges of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (4 counts), Assault in the First Degree (4 counts), Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, Recklessly Endangering Another Person, and Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm (city code).
The other person detained, a 17-year-old female, was interviewed and then released without charges.
If you have information about this shooting, and have not yet spoken with investigators, email it to crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, Attn: ECST, and refer to Case No. 25-170792.
Around the town, shootings continue
In the Cully neighborhood, adjacent to outer East Portland, police close off the intersection after finding a man, who’s been shot in the jaw near a convenience store.
June 28 at 12:56 a.m. – A man is shot the jaw in the Plaid Pantry convenience store parking lot at the intersection of NE 72nd Avenue at Lombard Street. It started as a “Threat-with-Weapon” report. The victim was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries; the suspect(s) left the scene before officers arrived. It’s Portland Police Case No. 25-170912
June 28 at 6:16 a.m. – A man was shot four times in the leg near the corner of Patton Square City Park, near North Emerson Street and Maryland Avenue. The victim is expected to recover; no one has been arrested. It’s Case No. 25-170988.
June 28 at 9:36 a.m. – Little is known about the person shot in the legs while downtown near SW 12th Avenue and Columbia Street. No arrests have been made. This was Case No. 25-171743.
Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day comments to reporters about this violent 24 hours.
“Many lives were impacted last night, either by the violence or by the tragic outcomes,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day told reporters during an impromptu press conference later on June 28.
“All of this weighs heavy on my heart and heavy on my mind in my role as chief,” Day continued. “But, as Portland, we are going to continue to go forward to create the safest and healthiest place for all of us to be able to thrive and live.”
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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