Portland's deadliest month in 30 years ends with 150 shots fired
PORTLAND, Ore - Portland's deadliest month in 30 years ended on Friday night with more than 150 rounds fired in the Montavilla neighborhood.
Portland Police say 15 people were killed during the month of July, the highest number of deaths in a single month since the 1980s.
For the second time in a week, the Northeast Portland neighborhood became a crime scene.
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Police were first called to NE 87th Ave on Monday night. 19-year-old Mister Ford was shot and killed.
On Friday, police returned to the Montavilla neighborhood for another shooting. They say more than 150 rounds were fired at the scene. Bullets damaged car windows and even made their way into people's apartments. Kemoh Sulimani was sitting at his computer when a bullet came flying through his window.
"This is a war zone with bullets flying all over," Sulimani said. "It’s like rapid fire. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Then where I was sitting a bullet just came flying through directly over my head and lodged in the wall."
One woman wasn't able to avoid the gunshots, and was hit in the arm. Neighbors came out of their bullet-riddled homes to help make a tourniquet for her.
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"I never would have dreamed or thought that it was going to happen in front of my apartment and I’d be applying that to somebody that got injured here ," said Aragon Marks, who helped the woman who was shot.
July was also the first month Portland Police didn't have the Gun Violence Reduction Team as a resource to help solve these crimes. The city disbanded the unit earlier this year following the results of a 2018 audit.
No arrests have been made in either shooting on NE 87th Avenue. Police have not said if the two shootings are connected.
