One person was killed and at least six others were wounded in a shooting overnight in downtown Portland, police say.
No one has been arrested in the shooting, which happened about 2 a.m. Saturday, according to Portland police. The shooter or shooters fled the scene, which is near a popular collection of food carts, before police arrived.
The person who was most severely injured, a woman who has not been publicly identified, later died at a hospital. The other known gunshot victims are expected to survive.
Sgt. Kevin Allen, a police spokesperson, said there may be more than seven shooting victims, as others may have left the scene before police could contact them.
Allen said there’s no known, ongoing public safety threat and that detectives are working to determine the circumstances of the shooting. Police have not said whether the shooter or shooters were targeting a person or group, or if investigators have identified any suspects.
Homicide detectives are investigating.
Police seemed to focus Saturday morning on an area in front of food carts on Southwest Third Avenue between Harvey Milk and Washington streets.
Pedestrians detoured around the closed area, and some stopped to ask police what happened. Parked cars remained in lots blocked off by police tape, and access to businesses inside the police perimeter was closed.
Police escorted people who live in the closed area to their buildings.
Filiberto Saldana told The Oregonian/OregonLive he was busy cooking in his food truck, La Piñata Takos, when he heard gunshots early Saturday.
”The next thing I know I heard people running,” Saldana said. “We just saw a car going fast in front of us.”
The dark blue car took off right after the shooting on Third Avenue, Saldana said.
Tyrone Jackson, who lives near the scene, said he was asleep in his apartment when gunshots woke him up. Although he’s never witnessed anything similar, Jackson said he opts to stay home at night rather than going to bars in the area because of safety concerns.
Portland Outdoor Store owner Brad Popick said the crime scene outside his shop on the closed block of Oak Street and Third Avenue looked like “World War Three.”
Oregonians are demanding accountability from their local governments, he said, and have gotten a lack of responses.
”People are screaming,” Popick said. “I can’t ever remember when we had people screaming at city council, on the radio, on TV, on the paper and in person. There seems to be this incredible lack of coherency or process of getting stuff done.”
The shooting was one of two homicides Saturday in Portland, as a man was also fatally shot in the Parkrose neighborhood about 6:30 a.m.
The fatal shootings are the latest in an epidemic of gun violence in Portland.
So far this year, there have been about 570 shooting incidents in the city, more than twice the number recorded during the same time in 2020.
Just last month, for example, two people were injured in a shooting a few blocks away from Saturday’s downtown incident. In that case, police recovered 28 shell casings.
Portland has also had more than 50 homicides in 2021, including two fatal shootings by police.
There were 55 homicides in all of 2020, according to an Oregonian/OregonLive analysis. This year, the city is on pace to log more homicides than its peak of 70 in 1987.
Police initially said eight people had been hurt in Saturday’s downtown shooting but later revised that figure.
Police ask anyone with information, including witnesses who may have left the scene, to contact Detective Brian Sims (Brian.Sims@portlandoregon.gov; 503-823-2079) or Detective Scott Broughton (Scott.Broughton@portlandoregon.gov; 503-823-3774).
— April Rubin; arubin@oregonian.com; @AprilMRubin
Jack Forrest of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
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