2/20/2022- 11:39 a.m.
PORTLAND, Oregon – One person was killed and five others were injured in a shooting Saturday night during a protest in Portland against police killings.
Portland Police Department said a woman was dead when officers arrived. Two men and three other women were taken to a nearby hospital, police said. Information about their condition was not immediately released.
The shooting took place near a Portland park that has been the scene of a number of protests against police killings in recent years. Neighbors say several shots were fired.
“I was in the room talking to my wife, and all of a sudden you hear repeated gunshots,” said Jeff Pry, who lives in the area.
Few other details about the shooting were immediately available.
Portland has been a center of the racial justice protests sparked by the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. In Portland, demonstrations have sometimes escalated into violence between protesters and counter-protesters.
Information on social media indicated that the protest Saturday was in response to the death of Amir Locke, 22, who was fatally shot by police in Minneapolis when they were executing a search warrant in early February.
The murder of Mr. Locke, who was black, sparked anger in Portland.
Mr Locke was not the target of the police raid, which was carried out under a so-called no-knock warrant where residents do not need to be notified. Minneapolis has since suspended the use of such warrants.
Portland police have admitted to using force more than 6,000 times during protests in 2020, prompting a reprimand from the Justice Department for failing to comply with a previous settlement agreement.
The use of clandestine FBI surveillance teams in response to the Portland protests and militarized federal agents sent to protect federal buildings raised concerns about violations of rights and government force majeure
