PORTLAND, Oregon — The Portland metro area saw a violent weekend with three separate fatal shootings in just two days in Old Town, Gresham and downtown Portland.
The most recent of the three deaths happened Sunday night on the corner of Southwest 5th Avenue and Washington Street downtown, part of an area where Portland police have been focusing their patrols lately. But Portlanders who work and live in this blocks said they're still watching their backs, all the more so after the weekend's violence.
“Usually every day I feel unsafe, but now more than ever because of the shooting,” said Rex, who works the register at Pete’s Market, a convenience store and hangout for drug users on the corner of Southwest 4th and Washington.
“It’s pretty scary,” he said.
It's unclear what led up to the shooting one block away from the market just after 9 p.m. Sunday. Portland police said no one has been arrested, and it's unclear what led up to the shooting.
“It could have been me, you know? It’s so close and so random and so prevalent,” Rex said Monday morning. Outside the market entrance, a group of people huddled in a corner and smoked fentanyl off tin foil. Clouds of white smoke billowed onto the sidewalk.
“It happens all the time. All the time. It’s like almost a daily thing where I hear one of my friends got shot or somebody that I know got shot. It’s ridiculous,” said Chico, who was homeless downtown for ten years. KGW first spoke with him this summer when he camped in “The Pit” under the Steel bridge. He has since moved into housing, but said life on the street is hard to forget.
“I’ve heard and I’ve seen a lot, you know,” he said.
Back in April, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler ordered the police to patrol the blocks around Southwest 4th and Washington on foot in response to a slew of overdoses and drug deals. Police told KGW officers are no longer doing those types of scheduled patrols, but they’re still in the area.
“The police come around about once every hour,” Rex said, and added that their presence does cut down on open-air drug use. He said he called Portland Clean and Safe Monday morning to have crews come clear out the group of drug users congregating outside the market.
“To be real, no, it hasn’t gotten any better,” said Chico. “They say it’s the worst it’s ever been.”
Just last week, Oregon State Troopers joined Portland police’s bike squad to patrol downtown to try and curb crime, including gun violence and stopping drug deals. Police said the troopers weren't deployed downtown this weekend when the shooting happened, but they were back out on the streets Monday morning.
A city spokesperson told KGW that Wheeler is closely following the recent shootings, adding that “re-staffing the Police Bureau is an absolute priority, as is supporting incoming Chief Bob Day to think creatively about how to deploy resources to maximize impact.
The spokesperson said downtown remains an area of focus for public safety, adding that the mayor's office is pleased to have the additional state police support and has been working with Gov. Tina Kotek's task force to come up with public safety solutions for the city. The PPB Central Precinct has increased foot and bike patrols and added overtime pay incentives to help bring staffing closer to minimum levels for shifts.
The city is also exploring a contract with Urban Alchemy, the California-based company that runs Portland's first mass sanctioned campsite in Southeast, to "serve as ambassadors, providing pro-social presence, including outreach and de-escalation for people in the downtown core."
Anyone with information on any of the weekend shootings is asked to contact Portland police.