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Woman, 26, ID’d as victim in Portland’s Wallace Park shooting

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The identity of the woman slain in Wallace Park in Northwest Portland late Friday night was released by police Tuesday.

Erika Caroline Walker Evans was shot just after 11:10 p.m. Friday. Paramedics arrived at the scene, but Evans died before being taken to a hospital. She was 26, police said.

Investigators remain tight-lipped about this homicide. Neighbors who spoke to KOIN 6 News want to know if this was an isolated, random situation or was she targeted for some reason.

One neighbor, Jim Brayton, told KOIN 6 News he’s lived across from Wallace Park for 25 years.

“It’s been a very safe park for many years and it feels like the violence that’s happening in Portland is getting closer to us,” he said. “Portland is changing. It saddens me that it is changing. I really wish the city government would do more to hold the line but I know the issues are complicated.”

Some neighbors told KOIN 6 News over the weekend they heard the gunshots.

But Carina Hughes, who lives across from the park and brings her dog there daily, was sleeping and didn’t hear the gunfire. She didn’t know anything about it until the morning when she saw police still investigating in the park.

“It’s sad and it’s very terrifying to live in a neighborhood, I’ve lived here all my life and things like that never happened before,” Hughes told KOIN 6 News. “I know the city is having problems but I always felt like around this area is pretty patrolled I thought and pretty watched.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Brian Sims at 503.823.2079, Brian.Sims@police.portlandoregon.gov or Detective Meghan Burkeen at 503.823.2092, Meghan.Burkeen@police.portlandoregon.gov.

There have been no arrests reported.