PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Homicide detectives are investigating after a shooting left one man dead and another injured, leading to an intensive search for suspects that locked down a large part of Portland’s Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood.
Shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, officers responded to a reported shooting near the corner of Southeast 112th Avenue and Powell Boulevard. On the scene, a KOIN 6 News crew saw a crashed car with smashed windows. It is unclear whether any victims were in the car.
In a release sent early Saturday morning, police said officers got there and found a man dead and another injured. The injured man was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive. Neither of them was immediately identified, and the medical examiner is working to determine an official cause of death.
The people involved in the shooting fled before police arrived, the Portland Police Bureau said, but officers found “possible persons of interest” on Southeast 120th Avenue, north of Southeast Powell.
According to PPB, officers went to that area and “multiple” people ran away who they believed were armed. Police set up a perimeter to look for them and called in backup from other precincts along with tactical teams, including crisis negotiators and a Special Emergency Reaction Team.
During the search, authorities locked down the area, closing SE 122nd Avenue in both directions between SE Division Street and SE Bush Street. SE Powell was also closed between SE 108th Avenue and SE 122nd. Nearby residents were told to stay inside and lock their doors and windows.
Ultimately, the shelter-in-place order was lifted around 12:45 a.m. Saturday when PPB found and detained “multiple” suspects.
None of the suspects were identified. Police told KOIN 6 News that as of Saturday afternoon, none of them have been officially charged with any crimes and their involvement in the shooting, if at all, is under investigation.
“We believe that they may be connected to a potential crime, but they’re not in a place where they’re being charged right away, they’re just being detained. They’re not free to go but are being held on to as we conduct this investigation,” PPB Sergeant Kevin Allen said.
A spokesperson with PPB said it’s possible there are still suspects not in custody, however police are not actively searching.
Police did not release any further information on the suspects as the investigation is ongoing. The on-scene response from emergency personnel lasted 14 hours as police secured search warrants, PPB told KOIN 6 News.
“The one thing that was really striking to me about this incident was how many officers it took,” Allen said. “We had to have officers at each intersection to try to close off that area…and I don’t have a full count of how many officers responded but it’s safe to say that it was a plurality of the Portland Police Bureau on this call.”
Allen noted this incident exemplified the importance of community members signing up for Public Alerts.
“When we have a dangerous situation when officers are working in a neighborhood where lots of people live and work, having the ability to send direct notifications to people in those situations is really important.”
Authorities declined to state how many people were detained. The events leading up to the man’s death and other man’s injury are also still unclear.
PPB asked anyone with information on what may have happened to contact Detective Michael Schmerber at 503-823-0991 or Detective Erik Kammerer at 503-823-0762.
KOIN 6 News is working to learn more.