One dead and six wounded in Portland shooting

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

At around 2:00 am local time, Portland Police Bureau officials responded to reports that several people had been shot dead in the downtown area where they found “many people” wounded in what police described as an “extremely chaotic” scene.

Police said at least seven people were hit by gunfire, but added that more victims and potential witnesses may have left the scene without speaking to law enforcement. Investigators urged anyone who treated themselves to contact the police as soon as possible.

Officials have not yet released the name of the woman who was killed, but said she was 18 years old and died in the hospital. Six more suffered injuries of varying severity that were not classified as life-threatening, the police said.

The police have not yet given any information on suspects, citing the ongoing investigation.

The shooting was one of four major gun violence incidents in the city in nearly four hours, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said at a news conference on Saturday. Another man was shot dead in the 11300 block of Northeast Sandy Boulevard around 6:30 a.m. local time, Lovell said. No arrests were made on his death and no information on suspects was released. The two fatal incidents were the 50th and 51st murders in Portland of the year, Lovell said.

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

Wheeler called for more clarity on the resources Portland Police Department will need to tackle violent crime in the city. “We clearly have a gun violence problem in our community,” he said. “We have a homicide problem in our community and the community should expect us to have the resources.”

The shootings come in a year well on its way to becoming America’s deadliest for gun violence in the past two decades. A study conducted by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice analyzed 24 major cities and found that homicides increased by 24% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 and by 49% compared to that period in 2020 has 2019.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit database tracking national gun violence, there have been 362 mass shootings so far this year this year. The research group evaluates four or more shot dead without the shooter as a mass shooting.

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

President Joe Biden said last month that the Justice Department introduced a “major crackdown” to curb violent crime in the country, including stricter rules on the purchase of weapons. He called gun violence an “epidemic”.

Announcing his plans, Mr. Biden said, “We now have an opportunity to come together – as Democrats and Republicans, as compatriots – to fulfill the first responsibility of government and our democracy: to protect one another. Enough.”