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Portland shootings reached a record high last year, and that trend appears to be continuing into 2021 as the stress-inducing COVID-19 pandemic drags on. The latest incident comes with an alarming twist: The gunfire was exchanged between the occupants of two cars.
In the early hours of Feb. 4, Portland Police Bureau East Precinct officers responded to reports of gunfire in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered evidence of gunfire and two severely injured adults who were transferred to the hospital by ambulance, according to a PPB press release.
The shooting occurred in the 3900 block of Southeast 136th Avenue, and two people involved in the shooting drove to the 11400 block of Southeast Foster Road to dial 911.
That's part of an ongoing wave of shootings, centered in the lowest-income parts of the city.
Between Jan. 27 and 28, a series of seven shootings throughout the city occurred from the evening into early the next morning, with two of them occurring in East Portland and four in North Portland.
At least three people have died from gun violence in Portland in 2021, and 212 people were injured in shootings in 2020.
The city has not clearly articulated a strategy for reducing gun violence, even though in midsummer it disbanded the police unit that responded to such crimes. That unit was long criticized for overpolicing Black people and engaging in racial profiling.
The PPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has not released statistics for shootings in 2021.
