Watch Ore. Police Plane Track Pitched Gun Battle
By Zaeem Shaikh
Source oregonlive.com
Police arrested two men and are looking for additional suspects in a Friday morning shooting in Portland’s Old Town neighborhood that left about 90 cartridge casings on the street.
A police plane, deployed to assist officers on the ground, captured video of much of the shootout. The Portland Police Bureau released the video over the weekend.
Officers responded at about 2 a.m. Friday to a report of “possibly armed individuals” in the area of Northwest 4th Avenue and Davis Street.
When the police plane arrived overhead, officers in the aircraft spotted two small groups of people on the street moving toward each other, in the midst of what appeared to be an aggressive argument, a probable cause affidavit said. The footage shows two of the individuals head to a parked car and at least one reach inside it. Seeing this, one person from the other group took a defensive shooting position behind a truck, the affidavit stated.
Officers then saw several people firing shots at each other, according to the affidavit.
“They’re shooting at each other, dude,” an officer exclaims in the video.
The footage shows at least three people firing shots.
The video shows three people moving from parked car to parked car, firing weapons and seeking shelter. At least one building was damaged and multiple vehicles were struck by gunfire, according to the affidavit and police.
Other people in the area dropped to the ground when the shooting began. Despite the fusillade, there were no injuries among the people nearby who were not involved in the gun battle, police said.
Police did not say if any of the shooters suffered injuries.
The shooting lasted for a little over 30 seconds, and the police air support unit then followed two of the shooters north on 4th Avenue towards Everett Street.
Officers arrested Travis A. Gaters III, 29, and Tamarjay D. Polk, 24, in connection with the shooting. They both could face various weapons charges, including discharging a firearm in the city.
Police seized two guns as evidence.
Police said additional suspects are being sought. The shootout in Old Town comes after a 19-year-old man was killed in a shooting in the neighborhood on July 29 and the fatal stabbing of a woman Tuesday.
Records show Gaters was convicted in 2012 of first-degree robbery.
Polk was convicted in 2015 of second-degree robbery with a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon, according to court records.
The records say he was involved in a Northeast Portland robbery that year with Derrick D. Clark.
Clark, 24, of Tigard was shot and killed by police in Milwaukie on June 18. The Oregon Department of Justice has taken over the investigation into the fatal police shooting.
Court records say that Polk is Clark’s brother.
They were also both members of The Insight Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works with adults and youth in prison.
Anna Debenham, the founder and program director of The Insight Alliance, said Polk and Clark were stepbrothers.
“They were really close,” she said. “They’ve always been really close.”
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