PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A young man who was shot on a North Portland street Wednesday afternoon died at a local hospital hours later.
The shooting on N Vancouver Avenue near Fargo Street happened around 3:15 p.m. Laray William Seamster, 26, died of multiple gunshot wounds.
There were lots of witnesses in the area and some of them told police 2 younger African American men were involved and ran out of the area, possibly leaving in a silver vehicle.
One witness, Shaun Boyce, told KOIN 6 News he heard several shots.
“Four or five shots back-to-back real quick, and then the gentleman that was shot was laying on the ground,” he said, adding that a number of nurses rushed over to help the man.
The Red Cross is located nearby and spokesperson Paula Negele said 3 of their volunteers helped the victim. One was a nurse and 2 others were trained to respond to disasters.
Another witness, Karen Dieringer, told KOIN 6 News she also heard 5 shots.
“Five really staccato kind of shots, and then two gentlemen running down Vancouver as fast as they could,” she said.
The Gang Enforcement Team is investigating.
PPB Sgt. Pete Simpson said someone has an answer, and he’s encouraging anyone with information to step forward.
According to Portland Police, this is the 28th homicide of the year. There were 26 in all of 2014. Police have responded to about 160 gang-related acts of violence so far in 2015.
Mayor Charlie Hales referred to this year’s amount of homicides “an apocalypse of death among young men in our city.”
“It’s a community crisis,” Mayor Hales said. “We are awash in this city and that’s what’s driving a lot of this violence.”
Police have not identified the victim in Wednesday’s shooting.
