PORTLAND, Ore. — A man was arrested Thursday morning after smashing the windows at seven businesses in Northeast Portland with a brick, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported.
The man accused of breaking the windows, 44-year-old Fredy Paredes-Kancab, was taken into custody and faces charges of first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal mischief.
The windows were broken at businesses located on Northeast Broadway between 30th Avenue and 34th Avenue, including several small businesses like Purple Moon Preschool, Nicholas Restaurant and Just Right Awards and Engravings. Windows were also smashed at a Fred Meyer and Starbucks on Northeast Weidler Street.
"One of my employees was actually driving by before we even opened for the day and she happened to see the police stopped out front," said Tim Williamson, owner of Just Right Awards and Engravings. "I started hearing from people as I was doing some cleanup that it was multiple businesses."
Officers responded Thursday at 6:36 a.m. to a report that a man was breaking windows with a rock in the area of Northeast 32nd Avenue and Broadway Street. Once they arrived, they were given a description of the man and started to search the area for him. They found him shortly after and took him into custody.
"It didn't seem like it was a break-in, or [he was trying] to rob the business. I was just kind of do some damage, maybe some vandalism," said Williamson.
After Paredes-Kancab was taken into custody, officers found seven businesses in the area with broken windows. PPB sent the following photos of the vandalism to KGW (see gallery below).
PHOTOS: Portland windows smashed
Portland police said the following businesses in Northeast Portland were vandalized:
- Fred Meyer, 3030 Northeast Weidler Street
- Center for Chiropractics + Wellness, 3241 Northeast Broadway Street
- Nicholas Restaurant, 3223 Northeast Broadway Street
- Purple Moon Preschool, 3311 Northeast Broadway Street
- Just Right Awards and Engravings, 3201 Northeast Broadway Street
- Verizon, 3004 Northeast Broadway Street
- State Farm, 3118 Northeast Broadway Street
Portland continues to see a rash of broken windows and vandalism, something the city has been dealing with for the past several years. Earlier this year, KGW investigative reporter Kyle Iboshi reported that every 42 minutes, there is a report of vandalism in Portland, often involving broken windows.
In 2022, there were 12,238 reports of vandalism citywide, according to PPB data. That number was up 27% from 9,660 vandalism cases in 2021. In 2020, there were 8,322 cases and 6,289 in 2019. KGW has asked PPB for the number of reports so far in 2023 and will update this article once we hear back.