Over the weekend, Portland police announced that it had passed the "grim milestone" of 1,000 shootings in the community this year, far surpassing past years.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell made the announcement on Twitter Saturday, highlighting issues facing the community.
"This week we passed a grim milestone. @PortlandPolice has now documented over 1000 shootings this year. Too many have prematurely ended lives and caused injury. But all shootings cause trauma to our community," wrote Lovell.
Lovell said that he is working with his partners to address "this terrible problem and do our part."
I'm happy to work with our partners addressing this terrible problem and do our part. The Enhanced Community Safety Team is working hard to investigate these cases, and I call on the community to share information with them so we can arrest those committing gun crimes. 2/4
— Chief Chuck Lovell (@ChiefCLovell) October 16, 2021
He noted that the Enhanced Community Safety Team is working to investigate the shooting cases, and urged the community to share any information they may have in connection to shooting cases.
"We're also working hard at building the Focused Intervention Team, which has a goal to deescalate and lower the tensions in the community that are feeding the contagious gun violence crisis," wrote Lovell. I'm looking forward to making more announcements about that soon."
Thank you to our officers, sergeants, criminalists, and detectives who have responded to every one of these shootings, performing trauma first aid and comforting victims, and gathering critical evidence. This crisis affects you too and your efforts are deeply appreciated. 4/4
— Chief Chuck Lovell (@ChiefCLovell) October 16, 2021
Passing the mark of 1,000 shootings this year, Portland has now recorded the most shootings in the city ever, according to KGW8. There are still 10 weeks left in the year as well.
In 2020, the city recorded 891 shootings, and there were 388 recorded in 2019.
Some Portland residents, in an effort to stay safe amidst escalating violence, refuse to go out of their house past sundown.
"I'd never come at night because she's not a watchdog yet," Sherrie Chinn told KGW8 as she was walking her dog in Mt. Scott Park Monday morning.
Another man at the park told KGW8 a similar story.
"Once it gets dark and he has to go to the park we're kind of like, 'No not right now, maybe tomorrow,'" Chris Leighty said.
"At night around 11 or 12 or whenever, it's like, was that a car backfiring or something else and we'll check Nextdoor and people right here are like, it was in front of my house, I had to knock my mom down so she didn't get shot," Leighty said.
The Mt. Scott-Arleta area has reported many of the more than 400 shootings reported in the city's east precinct. Some neighbors note that there are stretches where gunshots can be heard nightly.
"I grew up in the Chicago area," Leighty said. "That's what you see in the news there. Don't expect it to happen here."
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