Portland Starts 2022 as It Ended 2021: With Deadly Gunfire

A double homicide follows a year in which Portland saw 90 murders and 385 people injured in shootings.

Along Northeast Sandy Boulevard. (Brian Burk)
By Aaron Mesh

So much for a fresh start. Less than two hours into 2022, Portland saw its first two gun homicides of the year, a double slaying in the Argay neighborhood.

At 1:47 am on Jan. 1, police found three people injured by gunshots along Northeast 131st Place. One man died at the scene, another at a hospital. A third is expected to survive.

The double homicide follows a year in which Portland saw 90 murders, according to figures released to WW by the Portland Police Bureau today. That shatters the previous record of 70, set in 1970 (when the population was 46% smaller). Sixty-nine of the 90 homicides were committed with guns, police say.

Preliminary statistics show 385 Portlanders were injured last year by gunfire. Police say they responded to 1,287 calls about shootings.

The remarkably deadly year also saw as many as 67 people killed in traffic crashes, and 15 killed in residential fires.

On Jan. 1, two people living outside suffered serious burns when a propane tank set their tent on fire.

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