PORTLAND, Ore. — Police have arrested a man in connection to two shooting incidents in Northeast Portland on Monday.
Joseph Kelly Banks, 49, was booked in Multnomah County jail on two counts each of second degree attempted murder, first degree assault, second degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, according to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB).
Officers first responded to a shooting near the intersection of North Williams Avenue and Northeast Stanton Street on Monday and learned that a victim had been shot multiple times and was being taken to a hospital by a bystander.
Five minutes later, police were called to a second shooting in the 3700 block of Northeast Garfield Avenue, about 10 blocks away from the first site, according to a PPB press release.
Officers arrived and found a man with what appeared to be a serious gunshot wound, but he was conscious and breathing. He was taken to a hospital by ambulance, and both he and the other victim survived.
Banks was arrested after an investigation that involved the Enhanced Community Safety Team and members of the Homicide Unit, Special Emergency Response Team and others, police said.
Portland has been grappling with a surging gun violence problem in recent years, with 2021 setting a record as the deadliest year in the city's modern history with 1,294 shootings, compared with less than 400 just two years earlier.
Portland saw 90 homicides last year, fewer than half of which had been solved as of late January. The vast majority of victims were killed by someone with a gun.
