PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland man has been charged in at least five separate shootings that killed three people. The shootings happened within the first three months of 2022.
A Multnomah County grand jury filed a new 15-count indictment on March 28, charging Joseph Banks, 49, with three counts of murder in the second degree with a firearm and three counts of attempted murder in the second degree with a firearm. He is also charged with first-degree assault and second-degree assault stemming from shootings where the victims survived.
Banks entered a not guilty plea in court on Tuesday.
According to Portland police, Isaiah Hurst, 35, was shot and killed near North Vancouver Avenue and Morgan Street on Jan. 2.
On Feb. 2, police said Jeff Ramirez, 35, was killed in a shooting in the area of Southeast Stark Street and 119th Avenue.
On March 1, police said Mark Johnson, 55, died in a shooting near Dawson Park in the Eliot neighborhood of North Portland.
Banks is also accused of shooting two people in the same part of North Portland on Feb. 28, one day before the fatal shooting near Dawson Park. Both victims were hospitalized and ultimately survived.
In one of the shootings on Feb. 28, police found a victim who had been shot several times near the intersection of North Williams Avenue and Northeast Stanton Street. Five minutes later, officers responded to the second shooting, about 10 blocks away, in the 3700 block of Northeast Garfield Avenue. Police said the victim appeared to have a serious wound, but was conscious when officers arrived.
The new indictment identifies the victims of those shootings as Thad Thomas and Lillian Cloud.
The new indictment charges Banks with assaulting Stephen Barrera and Christopher Barrera with a weapon on Feb. 2. In the initial report about the Feb. 2 shooting, PPB said officers found Ramirez, who had been shot and killed, at Southeast Stark Street and 119th Avenue and officers then found another victim who was injured at Southeast Stark Street and 122nd Avenue. In the Feb. 2 report, PPB did not include information about a third person who was injured that day.
KGW also asked the DA's office whether the shootings and homicides were random or are believed to be connected. The DA's office said it could not confirm or deny that at this stage in the investigation.
Banks' next court appearance is scheduled for May 5.
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