PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police have charged the suspect in a shooting at a crowded bar in Northwest Portland last fall that killed a man inside.
Police say 25-year-old Marshawn Edwards fired repeatedly into Silver Dollar Pizza Restaurant on Northwest 21st Avenue on Sept. 24, 2021, killing Jacob Knight-Vasquez and injuring two others.
U.S. Marshals arrested Edwards in Fairview on Monday. He is charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Even as Portland saw surging gun violence in 2021, the shooting in what is normally a quiet neighborhood of Northwest Portland surprised neighbors and patrons at the many nearby restaurants and bars. The arrest was welcome news to Silver Dollar owner, Sam Macbale.
"Thank God!" said Macbale. "Justice, has finally come. Thank you. Thank God."
Police have said since the shooting that Knight-Vasquez was not an intended target of the shooting and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Court documents indicate he had just walked into the bar moments before Edwards walked by and began shooting indiscriminately into the restaurant with a gun in each hand, court documents say. Edwards never entered the bar and ran away as he continued to fire shots.
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According to court documents, DNA on cartridge casings found at the crime scene matched a sample in a rape kit from 2014, where a juvenile victim reported Edwards and another man forced her into having sex, which Edwards and the second man said was consensual. Charges were never filed.
Casings from a February shooting outside Whelan's Irish Pub in Southeast Portland matched the 9mm casings found at the Silver Dollar shooting scene in a ballistics database, a police affidavit states.
The shooter seen in surveillance video at both shootings wore the same Colorado Rockies baseball hat and black puffy North Face jacket, police said in the affidavit. Detectives stated they saw Edwards wearing the same hat and jacket while conducting surveillance.
"Thank God [police] have the knowledge," said Macbale. "I hope that I was helpful in providing all the video that we had so that we could catch this murderer."
Edwards is being held at the Multnomah County Jail without bail.