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A Portland-based Instagram account with 86,000 followers briefly disappeared sometime Monday afternoon, just hours after its moderator posted a graphic video of a murder that took place Friday night outside a 7-Eleven at Southeast 92nd Avenue and Holgate Street.
By 5:40 pm on Monday, the account was back up and the video of the murder was still the latest post.
The Instagram account, called “Portland Looks Like Shit,” isn’t obscure. It’s an account that gained notoriety and a massive following in the past year for posting mostly user-submitted videos and photos of homeless camps and homeless people, many enduring mental distress, while doing just about everything: sleeping, resting, using drugs, defecating, going through a mental health crisis or a high, and sometimes acting out or causing a disturbance.
But this morning’s post showing the murder of a man on Friday in the Lents neighborhood was a sharp escalation of its content—and nothing like what has been posted before.
The video shows a physical altercation involving three people outside the 7-Eleven (all three appear to be women). Two of the three are punching the other woman.
After 25 seconds of the altercation, a man in a gray-green top appears to try and remove one of the women punching the woman being attacked as she struggles to get off the ground.
The camera then pans to the parking lot, where a man in a blue sweatshirt points a pistol at the man in the gray-green top and fires. The man falls quickly and the camera pans to the man lying on the sidewalk, blood pooling around his head as screams erupt.
In a statement this afternoon, the Portland Police Bureau identified the victim of the Friday night shooting as 30-year-old Johnny Polanco. In that release, the bureau noted that a video had been circulating on social media of the murder: “Homicide detectives are seeking tips regarding the identity of the people in the video. Additionally, detectives would like to talk to the person who recorded the video.”
Polanco was taken to the hospital after the shooting at 9:46 pm and died shortly thereafter, according to police. They said no suspects had been detained.
By 2:30 pm Monday, the account was gone. It’s unclear why.
Three hours later, by 5:40 pm, it was back up—with all of its 86,000 followers intact.
Instagram says it shuts down accounts if there’s a certain volume of complaints in a specific time frame (though the social media site doesn’t explain its policy in more detail than that). Accounts can be reported for a myriad of things, including “violence or dangerous organizations,” which can be narrowed down to a violent threat, animal abuse, death or severe injury, or dangerous organizations or individuals.
Accounts can also be temporarily banned by Instagram for as short a period as a few hours up to 48 hours—but such short-term bans are often for actions that make Instagram think a third-party server or bot is operating through the account.
Screenshotted comments under the video following its posting show a breadth of responses: One person said, “This is my best friend’s brother and this video needs to be removed immediately. This family is grieving and whoever recorded this better be talking to the police because how dare you not give them the privacy that they need. Disgusting!”
Other comments condemned the account for not including a trigger warning.
One wrote, “This should not be on IG - and definitely not without a graphic warning. I respect the chronicling of this epidemic faced in Portland - but nobody, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, needs to see someone get fucking murdered on IG without a ‘warning graphic’ heads up. This page needs modicum of empathy and discretion if it wants to be taken seriously. Get your shit together mods.”
Someone responded, “This page is starting to seem more like a place for sick people to get off on violence rather than a chronicle of policy failures.”
Others mocked the death.
Yet other commenters attempted to politicize the murder, one writing, “You did this,” and tagging Mayor Ted Wheeler and Gov. Kate Brown.
The content on the account has notably intensified since its inception last summer. Now, more videos showing homeless people clearly in mental distress are posted with user commentary—often degrading, mocking or sarcastic. Sometimes the people filming the videos engage with and harass the person they’re filming. Oftentimes, the intersection where the event took place or where the person was at the time of the video is posted.
Common videos posted on their “stories” include burning vehicles captured from people’s moving cars, people shooting up intravenous drugs, and people in clear mental distress.
The site’s moderator did not immediately respond to questions from a WW reporter via Instagram.