Gunfire on Saturday night at a Portland, Ore., park where people had reportedly assembled to protest the officer-involved shooting of Amir Locke has allegedly claimed the life of one woman and wounded five others.
The incident occurred at about 8 p.m. at Normandale Park in the northeast part of the crime-ridden city around the time the march was set to begin. “The shooting took place near a park in Portland that has been the staging ground for a number of protests against police killings in recent years,” the New York Times recalled.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, “When officers arrived they located a female victim who was deceased. Additional shooting victims, two men and three women, were transported to area hospitals and their status is unknown at this time…Additional information will be released at the direction of investigators.”
Two suspects are reportedly in custody, and the investigation is ongoing. As part of a longer thread, tireless independent journalist Andy Ngo posted this video clip to Twitter:
Portland FM station KXL separately claimed that “Reports are that a neighbor in the area confronted the group about blocking traffic when the gunshots were exchanged.”
Fox 12 Oregon reporter Connor McCarthy posted this footage from the Portland crime scene:
Earlier this week, Portland CBS affiliate KOIN indicated that “Gun violence continues to plague Portland after it escalated to record highs in 2021,” which included six shootings between Thursday night and Friday morning. “Authorities recently told KOIN 6 News the first month of 2022 outpaced January 2021, already setting a dark precedent for the year.”
Last year, a record-setting 90 murders occurred in the Democrat-controlled city that sought to partly defund the police before reality caused officials to reverse course.