PORTLAND, Ore. — Just after 4 p.m. on Friday, police responded to a shooting at Dawson Park in North Portland. It was the fourth shooting in that area so far this year, according to police data. Two people went to the hospital and are expected to survive.
During the initial investigation, police counted 87 shell casings. Officials said a vehicle drove up to the park and at least one person inside fired a gun. Surrounding the park are Legacy Emanuel Hospital and a school.
“I heard these loud bangs really rapid succession for a while… I knew afterward immediately afterward that it was gunfire,” said Jake Wicks, who works at a nearby behavioral health clinic.
During the shooting, Wicks and his co-workers hid in a safe space away from windows and pulled people into safety from the surrounding street.
“I went into the hallway, and I saw the look on people’s faces. I knew it was a lot bigger than previous incidents,” said Wicks.
This is not the first shooting Wicks has witnessed at Dawson Park while at work.
“We are concerned for our entire community, for the entire city, and it certainly is not lost on myself or any of us in the police bureau or in the mayor’s office leadership that we definitely have our challenges,” said Portland police chief Bob Day during a press conference Monday afternoon about the shooting.
The investigation is still ongoing, but Chief Day said police have recovered the guns believed to have been used in Friday’s shooting. Officers took five guns off the streets when responding to a Saturday night shooting near Northeast 82nd and Sandy Boulevard, and at least some of those guns are believed to be the same weapons used at Dawson Park the day before. Police are still searching for the suspects in Friday’s shooting, but arrested three people during the Saturday night shooting.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called the shooting at Dawson Park “senseless” during the press conference.
“It goes without saying that it's never acceptable for these violent incidents to occur anywhere in our city, and I understand how dangerous and how frightening these circumstances must have been, particularly for the many people who were present,” Mayor Wheeler said.
It also impacted those who weren’t present but have been around the Eliot neighborhood for decades.
Hudson works for a nonprofit helping people in recovery. The group also advocates for gun violence prevention. Gun violence has been a recurring problem in the neighborhood over the years, he said.
“We’ve been having gun activity in this community for quite a while,” Hudson said.
“I’m not surprised anymore. We got brothers shooting brothers, we got mothers shooting kids, it’s just gun violence is everywhere,” added Larry Turner, who co-owns Ja’Das Soulful Eatz. “I grew up three blocks from here. My wife grew up about nine blocks from here, so we’re very fortunate to be able to offer a service to black people back on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard… the community isn’t a community anymore. We have pockets where some black people still live in neighborhoods.”
Both Turner and Hudson knew at least one of the victims in Friday’s shooting at Dawson Park, despite police not yet releasing their names. “We’re just praying and hoping that they’ll recover,” Hudson said.
“That park does have a lot of significance to the African American community. We’re aware of that and we’re sensitive to that,” added Chuck Lovell, Portland's former chief of police.
“I don’t have all the answers, but I hope that we cannot stop trying to find the answers… Let’s make the playing field equal cause we all been affected in some way or another,” Hudson said, speaking about the gun violence.
Anyone with information about Friday’s shooting at Dawson Park is asked to contact Portland police.