PORTLAND, Oregon: Portland Police responded to six shootings within a nine-hour span on Friday of last week.
The incidents included a car chase when suspects shot at an officer. During that incident, three suspects were arrested and the officer was not injured.
According to the Portland police, 2021 witnessed record-high numbers of gun violence in Portland, and the number of shooting incidents during the first month of 2022 has exceeded January last year.
Police recorded 127 shootings in January alone, and at least 22 people have been injured by gunfire in 2022.
In 2022, 15 deaths have been recorded in Portland, including one man fatally shot by a Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 205 after a high-speed chase.
Last year, Portland had at least 92 homicides, far surpassing the previous most violent year in 1987 when 70 people were killed in homicides.
Portland even surpassed more populous cities, such as San Francisco and Boston, in terms of homicides, and recorded more than double the number of murders in Seattle, its larger Pacific Northwest neighbor.
From 2019 to 2020, Portland witnessed an 83 percent increase in homicides, a larger increase than nearly all major cities. Based on FBI data, homicides in the entire U.S. had increased by nearly 30 percent during the same period.
Portland’s police and officials said last year’s homicide increase, which disproportionally affected the city’s Black community, was fueled by gang-related violence, drug deals and disputes among homeless people, and the situation was exacerbated by the pandemic, economic hardship and mental health crises.
