UPDATED | Week #214 Shooting Report | INCLUDES INVESTIGATIONAL VIDEO | INCLUDES 16 PHOTOS | With multiple fatal shootings east of the Willamette River, a fatal stabbing in Powellhurst-Gilbert, and a gang shootout in a park – Portland Police detectives have been kept very busy this week …
It’s been a hectic week for Portland Police Bureau officers and detectives, as homicidal violence breaks out on hot summer nights – and eve n hotter afternoons.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Even seasoned Portland Police Bureau (PPB) command staff say they were shocked by the heightened level of violence over the weekend, and into this week.
This includes PPB Assistant Chief Chris Gjovik, who told reporters earlier this week – as violence was still breaking out – “I can’t remember another weekend that was as violent as was this weekend.”
All of these incidents took place east of the Willamette River, some just a couple of miles west of what we consider outer East Portland.
July 12
‘Rave’ turns to murder in Sellwood Riverfront Park
Officers and detectives focus their attention on the north end of Sellwood Riverfront Park after gunshots erupt, and a young man dies, during a spur-of-the-moment party.
The deadly sequence of events began 3.8 miles west of outer East Portland Friday night, July 12, when gunfire broke out at an impromptu, unsanctioned “party in the woods” for which hundreds of youth gathered at the north end of Sellwood Riverfront Park, along SE Oaks Park Way. It was called informally by some of the party-goers a “Rave at the River”.
This “Shooting-with-Weapon” call, dispatched at 11:16 p.m., eventually brought dozens of officers and investigators to the park.
Armored officers make their way out the wooded area of the park, after determining that the shooter had fled the scene.
“The suspect or suspects left the scene before police were called, and no immediate arrests were made,” was all a PPB official would reveal at the time.
Officials are looking for the murderer of this man: 20-year-old Asher Ethan HK Mendes, of Sherwood. Family-provided photo
On July 15 the Portland Police revealed that the person killed in this shooting had been identified as 20-year-old Asher Ethan HK Mendes, of Sherwood, on the west side of the Portland metro. The Medical Examiner determined Mendes died of homicide by gunshot.
If you have information about this homicide, contact Detective Michael Schmerber at Michael.Schmerber@police.portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-0991 or Detective Shaye Samora at Shaye.Samora@police.portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-0768. Please reference Case No. 24-174011.
UPDATED: July 13
Double shooting homicide at Broughton Beach
With NE Marine Drive closed off at 122nd Avenue as a double homicide investigation is taking place further west, this is as far as we could go, to report this story. Courtesy KGW-TV News 8
At the Broughton Beach area off NE Marine Drive, 3.9 miles west of outer East Portland – at the Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp, alongside Portland International Airport – PPB officers were dispatched to a “Shooting-with-Weapon” incident on July 13 at 7:50 p.m.
“When officers arrived, they located two males deceased at the scene,” a PPB official told reporters. “The suspect or suspects left the scene before police were called, and no immediate arrests were made.”
Because the investigation shut down NE Marine Drive in both directions between 33rd and 122nd Avenues, all reporters were kept far away from the crime scene.
UPDATE
On July 23, the officials revealed that the names of the two deceased in this shooting: Jmeire Asher, 18, of Portland, and Deangelo Augustus, 38, of Salem. The Medical Examiner determined Asher and Augustus died of homicide by gunshot wound.
Have information about this double shooting murder? If so, contact Detective Brent Christensen at brent.christensen@police.portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-2087 or Detective J.D. McGuire at jeff.mcguire@police.portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-2081, and reference Case No. 24-174823.
July 14
Man dies in Rose City Park shooting
Streets are closed off in the Rose City Park neighborhood, just west of outer East Portland, as Portland Police detectives, officers, and investigators look into another fatal shooting.
Just 1.6 miles west of our neighborhoods, on Sunday, July 14, PPB officers from both the North Precinct and East Precinct – and members of the Bureau’s Focused Intervention Team (FIT) – were sent on this “Shooting-with-Weapon” to the intersection of NE 55th Avenue and Hassalo Street to investigate.
Arriving officers located a male victim who was suffering from life-threatening injuries; and although he was rushed to an area hospital, he died after his arrival. Again, in this case, no arrests have yet been made, and no suspects were detained.
On July 18, officials say it was this man, 30-year-old Aaron McInnis, who died as a result of the shooting. The Medical Examiner determined he died of homicide by gunshot wounds. Family provided photo
Portland Police Bureau Homicide detectives arrived at the scene to investigate. If anyone has information about this incident, they are asked to please contact Detective Sean Macomber at Sean.Macomber@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0404 or Detective Tony Harris at Tony.Harris@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0441 – and reference Case No. 24-175937.
July 15
Man stabbed and killed in Powellhurst-Gilbert
SE 136th Avenue is closed off at Clinton Street, as homicide detectives investigate a fatal stabbing.
On Monday, July 15, 2024, at 12:30 a.m., PPB East Precinct were dispatched to the intersection of SE 136th Avenue and Clinton Street to look into reports of a person stabbed.
“When officers arrived at the location, they found a male victim who was suffering from life-threatening injuries; the victim was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he died,” reported a PPB official.
Although an ambulance promptly takes the stabbing victim to the hospital, he soon dies.
“An individual detained at the scene has been released from police custody; this person has not been charged with a crime, and is cooperating with detectives,” the PPB spokesperson added.
According to a news story run on KATU ABC 2 in 2023, Kenny L. Housman, the man stabbed to death, was referred to by neighbors as the “Sheriff of Clinton Street”.
On July 16th officials identified the deceased man as 73-year-old Kenny L. Housman, of Portland. The Medical Examiner determined that he died of homicide by stab wound.
As this remains an open and ongoing investigation, if you have information about this case, contact Detective J.D. McGuire at Jeff.Mcguire@police.portlandoregon.gov or Detective Brent Christensen at Brent.Christensen@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 24-175978.
July 18
Teen wounded in gang shoot-out in Bloomington Park
Along the south side of Bloomington Park, two blocks west of Oliver Lent Elementary School in the Lents neighborhood, officers find an abundance of “evidence of shooting” – at first, the bullet shells are marked with white business cards.
Two shooting calls in the Lents neighborhood dispatched a cadre of PPB East Precinct officers on Thursday afternoon, July 18, to two different locations – one at 4:53 p.m. and 4:49 p.m. – to incidents just four minutes and one mile apart from one another.
Watch as officers and detectives investigate this daytime “teen gang shootout”, as a neighbor put it, in Bloomington Park:
“These incidents are related to one another,” PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen confirmed to East Portland News later that day.
Officers mark spent bullet-shell casings in the park, and look for additional evidence.
The first dispatch sent Portland Police to a “Shots Fired” call in Bloomington Park – specifically, east of 101st Avenue , along SE Steele Street, to the edge of the park.
Numerous spent bullet casings were evident along Steele Street; and several casings sported yellow evidence markers east of a paved path, in the southeast corner of the park.
As PPB FIT investigators come on scene, temporary paper markers at the bullet shells in SE Steele Street the are replaced with yellow evidence markers.
Neighbor witnesses the ‘shoot-out’
A neighbor who lives very close to where the gunfire took place, and who asked not to be identified, said he was shocked at what he witnessed. “To me, it looked like a gangster shoot-out [among] teenagers.
“First, I heard some yelling. Then, maybe a dozen ‘pop-pop-pops’ like gunshots; not firecrackers.There were four guys [involved]; two of them ran (north) in the park, and the other took off south, down SE 101st Avenue,” the shaken man told East Portland News.
Investigators find bullet holes in cars parked along SE Steele Street.
Another neighbor, a 25-year resident who lives west of the crime scene, said the south end of the park is usually quiet and peaceful – “until this afternoon, when I heard more than a half-dozen shots.”
Wounded teen calls for help outside store on SE 82nd Avenue of Roses
To the second dispatch that came out as a “Shooting-with-Weapon”, Portland Fire & Rescue’s Lents Station 11’s Rescue crew and an ambulance were sent to the Top to Bottom, a store at 5420 SE 82nd Avenue of Roses.
“Here’s how these two calls are related,” Sergeant Allen continued. “At the ‘Shots Fired’ call in Bloomington Park, a victim – a juvenile male – was taken to the second location after the shooting,” relayed Sergeant Allen. “At this time, we don’t know how he got to the 5400 block of SE 82nd Avenue, but that’s where officers found him.
The wounded teen somehow makes it here, to this retail plaza, just 1 mile away from the park.
“Officers and emergency medical services met the shooting victim there; he was transported to a local hospital by ambulance and is being treated; his prognosis is unknown.
“At the same time, officers from East Precinct, the Emergency Community Safety Team, and FIT continued at Bloomington Park, and found evidence of gunfire there,” Sergeant Allen concluded.
Late in the afternoon, this shooting investigation continue in, and near, the park.
So far, no arrests have been made, but, detectives are in the initial stages of the investigation. If you have information about this incident, please e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 24-24-179515.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We hurriedly close conclude our 214th East Portland News “Weekly Shooting Report” – because it appears that more violence is breaking out here as we write this, and we’ll need to go cover it for next week’s report.
To find out when, why, and how, these weekly “Shooting Report” articles began, and still continue, CLICK HERE.
© 2024 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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