PORTLAND, Ore. — The family of a 31-year-old man who died after a shooting in Northeast Portland in mid-March said he was a father of two children who had lived on the streets for a year, and was just starting to turn his life around.
Zack Harris is remembered as a man who "made the best of every situation."
"It's so surreal. He was always smiling, no matter what," said his father, Joel Harris. "It could be the worst of times and he's smiling."
On Wednesday, March 16, North Precinct officers responded to a shooting under Northeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard near Halsey Street. Officers found Zack Harris suffering from a gunshot wound. Paramedics rushed the 31-year-old to the hospital.
"My daughter called me and had to break the news to me," Joel Harris said. "She didn't need to break it to me. She said, 'Dad, you know who it is.'"
As devastated as the Harris family was, they were just as hopeful because Zack Harris was still alive. While he was in the hospital though, his condition worsened and Zack Harris died one week later.
"Part of me went with him that day," Joel Harris said. "I second guess myself. What if I would've done this? What if I would've been a better role model? What if?"
Zack Harris leaves behind two children: an 8-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.
"He was making wise choices, and they took him before he could fully bloom and fully be himself and figure things out," Joel Harris said.
The unprecedented level of gun violence in the Rose City is to blame. Zack Harris is one of more than 20 people killed in more than 370 shootings in Portland so far this year.
"I don't think people are thinking about the ripple effect of their actions," Joel Harris said. "Not only are they ruining their lives and their family's lives, but they're ruining the other person's life and their family's lives."