One dead, six injured in Portland shooting

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A woman was killed and at least six others were injured after a shooting Saturday morning in Portland, Oregon, officials said Saturday.

At about 2 a.m. local time, officers from the Portland Police Office responded to reports of multiple people being shot downtown, finding “several people” injured in what police described as a “very chaotic” scene.

Police said at least seven people were shot, but added that it was possible that more victims and potential witnesses had left without speaking to law enforcement. Investigators urged anyone who treats themselves with injuries to contact law enforcement as soon as possible.

Officials have not yet released the name of the woman who was killed, but they said she was 18 and died in hospital. Police said six others were injured with varying degrees of severity not believed to be life-threatening.

Police have yet to release information about any suspects, citing an ongoing investigation.

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said at a news conference Saturday that the shooting is one of four major gun violence incidents in the span of nearly four hours in the city. Lovell said another man was shot and killed at about 6:30 a.m. local time at 11300 Block northeast of Sandy Boulevard. No arrests were made in his death and no suspicious information was released. Lovell said the two fatal incidents were the 50th and 51st serious murders in Portland this year.

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“What happened early this morning is devastating,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “It’s tragic and meaningless.” “Anytime lives are lost, when people are injured by gun violence, I feel myself sad, but at the same time angry.”

Wheeler called for more clarity about the resources needed for Portland police to tackle violent crime in the city. “It is clear that we have a problem of gun violence in our community,” he said. “We have a murder problem in our community and the community should expect that we will have adequate resources.”

The shootings come during a fast paced year that has been America’s deadliest for gun violence in the past two decades. A study by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice analyzed 24 major cities and found that homicides increased 24% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same time period in 2020, and 49% more than that period in 2019.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit database that tracks national violence with the use of guns, there have been 362 mass shootings in the United States this year so far. The research group considers that four or more people were shot dead, not including the shooter, as a mass shooting.

Just this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a catastrophic state of emergency for gun violence in his state, the first time a governor in the nation has done so.

President Joe Biden said last month that the Justice Department was waging a “major campaign” to reduce violent crime in the country, including stricter rules for buying guns. He described gun violence as an “epidemic”.

Announcing his plans, Mr. Biden said: “We have an opportunity now – as Democrats and Republicans, as fellow Americans – to fulfill the first responsibility of government and our democracy: keeping each other safe. Enough.”

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