PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and local law enforcement officials discussed the weekend of gun violence during a news conference Tuesday morning. Multiple reporters pressed Wheeler and Portland police officials about their handling of three shootings across the city that killed three people between Feb. 19-20.
“All of these shootings are obviously horrific and they are all tragic and they all profoundly impact families, loved ones,” said Wheeler. “It also traumatizes the entire community.”
In one of the shootings Saturday evening, 60-year-old Brandy Knightly was shot and killed and five others were injured near Northeast Portland’s Normandale Park. Knightly went by the name June, according to friends. Police said the shooting happened during a confrontation between an armed neighbor and armed protesters.
Officers initially released few details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. About an hour before the press conference started, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) identified the suspect as 43-year-old Benjamin Smith, though multiple media outlets and antifascist researchers previously reported his name.
During the news conference on Tuesday, several reporters asked city leaders and law enforcement why information about the shooting was not released sooner.
“I would rather we be accurate and provide good, solid information to the community with the benefit of collaboration with our law enforcement partners, rather than winging it,” Wheeler said.
When asked about the same topic, PPB Chief Chuck Lovell said he wants to first verify that information is accurate and does not want to jeopardize the investigation.
“It’s a situation [where] we want to be responsive and get as much information out there as possible, but we want to make sure that’s good and accurate information and still not jeopardize any investigation that’s going on at the same time,” said PPB Chief Chuck Lovell.
Around the same time the shooting near Normandale Park was going on, a PPB officer shot and killed a person near a condo complex during an incident in Southwest Portland. Officers initially responded to a report of a suspicious person in Southwest Portland. PPB said they have few details about the incident.
Lovell said PPB had to split resources between the shooting near Normandale Park and the incident in Southwest Portland.
On Sunday, Portland police said a mother was shot and killed and three others, including her 1-year-old 5-year-old kids, were injured in a vehicle near Southeast 128th and Foster Road. During the news conference, Lovell said he did not have enough information at this point to determine whether they were the intended targets. PPB has not released the name of the victim and has not said whether they are looking for any suspects.
As of Feb. 21, 15 people have been killed in more than 200 shootings in Portland in 2022. That’s compared to 182 shootings in the first two months of 2021 and 89 in the first two months of 2020.
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