No end in sight for the dark times
It's been a rough few nights in Portland. At least three people were shot dead between early Friday morning and last evening. Jaquan Jamaul Jenkins, 26, was shot and killed at around 2 in the morning on Thursday night/Friday morning on the street near Second and Couch in Old Town. On Saturday night/Sunday morning at around the same time, another man was killed by gunfire near SE 96th and Stark. Last night at around 8:30 p.m., a third man was shot and died near NE 52nd and Couch.
By my count, that's 10 homicides in Portland in January, with one day still to go. We're on pace for 120 for the year. Last year set the all-time record with 92.
The Jenkins killing was particularly appalling. According to the O, the victim –
was shot by a man who pulled an AR-style rifle out of his vehicle and fired a single round after an argument escalated early Friday outside the Oregon Leather Co., 110 N.W. Second Ave., the owner of a nearby bar told The Oregonian/OregonLive. A clerk at a separate business said investigators showed him a picture of the homicide suspect’s truck, which he recognized as belonging to a drug dealer who frequents the area.
The cops are just now reintroducing a gun violence squad to the streets. It will take quite a while for those dozen officers to make much of a dent in the murder rate, if they ever do. And wait until they actually start arresting people; you can bet the charges of racism will fly, accurate or inaccurate. God help our once-great city.
I don't know when this will end but I remember very well the moment it started. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests_in_Portland,_Oregon The city had been in a lock down over Covid for several weeks. On our block in Southeast Portland some families had been gathering on their porches on Sunday night banging pots and making noise and talking and singing to one another from their porches as a way to cheer up their kids. Then one Sunday night it was all quiet except for police helicopters directing a massive demonstration marching downtown from Southeast Portland that Mayor Wheeler wanted to enforce a curfew with the assistance of the National Guard but the Governor wouldn't allow it. I could hear all the chanting from blocks away as a massive group of unmasked people marched downtown. I've lived in SE Portland since the late 70's and that night was the first time I ever felt afraid in this city.
ReplyDeleteI heard the shots last night (2 blocks away). The police were over here late into the night looking for something- possibly another shot was fired in a different location or the shooter tried to ditch something. Sad that too many of these have no leads to track down.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess the “No Justice, No Peace” chant has come to fruition.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know if you have recovered completely from covid, please
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