Counterintuitive? Shooting stats are improving, says PPB

On Thursday, June 27, shots were fired at the intersection at S.E. 82nd Avenue of Roses and Knight Street – and a man fell, dead, to the pavement.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched at 11:44 p.m. to a “Disturbance” – which soon was revised to being a fatal shooting, when arriving officers found the victim in the street.

The PPB’s Homicide Division detectives responded to investigate – closing off all traffic at that point of 82nd Avenue for several hours.

“No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been detained,” a PPB official later reported. But the investigation definitely continues, and the Portland Police have a good recent record of solving such crimes.

Mid-year shooting statistics

Meanatime, THE BEE asked PPB Public Information Officer Sergeant Kevin Allen about trends in shootings so far this year.

“With our standard caveat that these statistics are unverified, and should be considered unofficial until the monthly reports are published, our preliminary count is 437 shootings in the City of Portland, reported year-to-date – with 122 people injured by gunfire (not including suicide attempts),” Sergeant Allen said.

“This means that shooting incidents are down by ‘double digits’ from just a year ago,” Sergeant Allen pointed out. If you’d like more detail on that, visit the PPB’s official “Shooting Incident Statistics” webpage – https://tinyurl.com/49wp8ejz