PORTLAND, Ore. — A Multnomah County jury on Tuesday found the man who fatally shot a 34-year-old in the back while firing into a crowded sports bar in 2021 guilty of murder, according to The Oregonian.
The shooting happened shortly before 2 a.m. on Sept. 24 at Silver Dollar Pizza at Northwest Glisan Street and 21st Avenue in Northwest Portland. Witnesses told police and KGW they heard 10 shots, which wounded two and killed one, Jacob Knight-Vasquez.
Police said at the time that they did not believe Knight-Vasquez was the intended target; he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I would have never expected the call that I got. I was in disbelief," Jacob’s sister, Wendy Osborn, told KGW. "My brother was full of light and love. Everyone who knew him in this neighborhood loved him."
The shooter, Marshawn Edwards, was arrested in 2022. He was charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Court documents said that Knight-Vasquez had just walked into the bar moments before Edwards walked by and began shooting indiscriminately into the restaurant with a gun in each hand. Edwards never entered the bar and ran away as he continued to fire shots.
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, according to a police affidavit. Edwards, seen in surveillance video at both shootings, wore the same Colorado Rockies baseball hat and black puffy North Face jacket, the affidavit said. Detectives also stated they saw Edwards wearing the same hat and jacket while conducting surveillance.
Following deliberations, a Multnomah County jury found Edwards guilty on all counts, including for second-degree murder, attempted murder and unlawful use of a firearm during the second bar shootout months later.
Edwards faces a mandatory punishment of life in prison when he is sentenced on March 8, The Oregonian said.
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