Image source: The Oregonian
On Wednesday night, Portland police received multiple calls from people reporting a neighbor had fired a gun in their driveway.
Two officers arrived on the scene, and what followed added to the number of Portland police shootings in 2022, making it the third police shooting in four days.
The call
Several residents along the 100th block of Southeast 126th Avenue called police when a neighbor began firing shots Wednesday night.
The neighbor’s house was on the west side of Southeast 126th Avenue, between Stark Street and East Burnside Street.
Jesse, 43, said he first heard a gunshot and assumed it was fireworks, but after hearing two more gunshots he realized that it was a firearm.
“He fired off many rounds,” Jesse said.
The police arrive
After the neighbors called the police, they heard two officers arrive at the man’s home and issue orders.
“I could hear police telling him to get down,” Jesse described.
He later heard two consecutive shots and described them as “a flam drum”.
Jesse couldn’t tell if the man who fired the shots was down or not.
The report
Police spokesman David Baer said police were first called to the block at 8:19 pm.
He also confirmed that the meeting led to a shooting that resulted in the death of the man.
The two officers who arrived at the scene were from the East Ward and the office’s Targeted Response Team, an organization created to combat gun violence.
Consequences
29 police officers arrived on the scene two hours later, and investigators were also on the road.
A mobile police command center was then set up on the street.
As a result, the encounter added to the tally of police shootings in four days – a statistic that comes at a bad time given the city’s rising gun violence and homicide rate.
The shooting is the second this year involving a member of the targeted intervention team.
“The level of violence officers have been responding to is unprecedented,” said Assistant Police Commissioner Jami Resch, one of the officers who responded to the scene.
City figures
During the event, Mayor Ted Wheeler, the Portland Police Commissioner, was vacationing with his daughter.
Meanwhile, city officials say Chief Chuck Lovell was sick and unemployed earlier in the day, which also explains his absence from federal court during an annual Portland settlement hearing with the US Department of Justice on Police Reforms.
July 24 incident
Early last Sunday, East Precinct Officer Mina Cavalli-Singer shot and killed Johnathan Worth after firing a shot, nearly missing Cavalli-Singer’s partner’s head.
Area teens called 911 to report domestic abuse when a man strangled a woman on the sidewalk.
The woman was separated from Johnathan Worth, 19, who resisted arrest.
Worth struggled to the ground before drawing his weapon.
After his first shot, Cavalli-Singer shot him six times, killing him.
July 26 incident
After 1 am Tuesday, North Ward officer Kyle Roush fired into a truck after it rammed a police cruiser and attempted to hit another officer on foot.
Police reported 6700 Block from North Fessenden Street when one witness reported hearing gunfire and another reported seeing flash from a gun.
According to the police, the truck driver hit a police car and escaped.
They gave chase, but they lost the suspect in the St. John neighborhood.
References:
Police fatally shoot man in SE Portland, third police shooting in city this week
Officer shoots, kills person reportedly firing gun outside Southeast Portland home
