PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported 74 homicides in the city in 2023, a 23% decrease from a record high set last year.
In 2022, Portland set a record for the highest number of homicides in a year with 96, which broke a record of 90 set in 2021.
Police representatives said the number of homicides is still too high. Each of those 74 homicide victims have families that are still grieving. PPB also said the caseload is too high for staffing levels that remain inadequate.
"We are kind of coming out of a really difficult period where police were preoccupied with civil disorder incidents," said PPB Sergeant Kevin Allen. "Now we've been able to kind of refocus on what we primarily do, which is the crime."
Asianique Savage grew up in Northeast Portland, where she said her mother was gunned down on the family's porch when she was just five. In February of this year, her younger brother, Tyz'Juan James, was shot and killed in a parking lot in Southeast Portland. He was 20 years old.
Savage is still carrying the weight of losing her brother and mother to gun violence.
"[We grew] very tight-knit already because of the trauma," she said. "So you love so hard, and my little brother was my bestie. We did everything together and it was just traumatizing. You go through a phase where you don’t want to sleep because you think you’ll get a phone call. You are constantly checking on your people."
Savage said she was unhappy with how her family was treated by police after her brother died.
"They did not treat my family with respect, at all. That whole process was terrible," she said.
Savage said the police treated her with suspicion when she arrived at the crime scene.
"They tried to pull me out of my car. They tried to pull guns on me. They were screaming in my face," she said. The next day, Savage said police showed her a video of how her brother was killed. She said there's been no communication since from police about her brother's death. No one has been arrested in connection to James' death.
"We still haven't gotten his belongings back," she said. "My brother just walked around a corner and was killed."
Savage said she found the best way to heal is by helping others who've had similar experiences.
Just months after her brother's death, Savage became the manager of Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety. Now she advocates for gun control policies, hoping others won't feel the pain she did.
"People of color are being killed and no one is saying anything about it," she said. "I feel like everybody is doing a lot of talking and not a lot of action. I'm doing it for my community. I grew up on these streets. I've walked down MLK my whole life."
Savage said community organizations are important; they kept her on track during her younger years, she said. Lionel Irving leads one called Love is Stronger. He said he's been on both sides of the gun and was just released from prison a few years ago. Since his release, he's been mentoring youth in Portland who have direct family ties to the gang lifestyle.
"The police should be going out there, trying to arrest the assailant," Irving said. "It is our job as community members and the city of Portland to get around the families that have suffered from gun violence, because they are potentially the next shooters."