Gun violence continues to grow in Portland metro area
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PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — A string of shootings on Monday highlighted a severe growing problem in Portland.
This year has seen a dramatic increase in gun violence, and police say that’s made an already troubling year even more difficult.
On the Portland Police Bureau website, people can track this kind of data and through November. The website shows that in 2020 there have already been 817 cases of gun violence compared to 393 in 2019.
Portland police said these statistics only include incidents where police can verify that a gun was fired.
Police say gun violence has been a significant issue in Portland.
On Monday, police responded to two shootings in Portland and one in Gresham. In two of those shootings, someone died.
Police said it’s likely several factors leading to an increase in violence but point out that shootings have been up since January.
“We can’t just say it was the pandemic. We can’t just say it was disturbances in the city of Portland throughout the summer,” Lt. Greg Pashley said. “We can’t just say it was staffing reduction and budget reduction and staffing. There’s a lot of factors that come into play, all of those things and probably more.
PPB does say that one factor leading to an increase in shootings is people feeling encouraged to use a gun to solve petty problems.
Pashley says across the city, they have seen an increase in shootings over minor issues.
The police department also says it’s been a struggle investigating all these shootings with a staff shortage.
They do say that if you do have a crime committed in your neighborhood to call the police.
They say they can’t investigate these shootings without the support of community members and people providing information when they have it.
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