SE Portland shooting outside bar leaves 1 teen dead, 3 others injured, officials say

A teenager was shot and killed and three others were injured after a shooting Sunday night in Southeast Portland, officials said.

East Precinct officers from the Portland Police Bureau were called to the shooting in the 500 block of Southeast 162nd Avenue about 8:45 p.m.

Police said a man had been killed and three boys shot. In a video posted to social media, Mayor Ted Wheeler referred to all four victims as teenagers.

“Last night, four teenagers were shot in Southeast Portland,” Wheeler said. “Three young men had their lives changed forever, and one man will never have the chance to start his adult life. We must work together to protect our children and make sure no family ever experiences this again.”

The three injured minors were taken to the hospital, police said. One had injuries that appeared to threaten his life. Police have not released the victims’ ages.

The David Douglas School District confirmed in an email to parents Monday that two of the victims, including the teen who died, attended schools in the district. The school district said the teen who died had attended schools in the district since kindergarten, but did not identify the high school the student had attended.

“People process tragedy and grief in many different ways, and we are working within our impacted schools to allow those processes to happen in safe surroundings,” the email said. “Counselors and other trained adults were made available for those affected by this tragedy.”

By Monday morning, the remnants of the shooting 12 hours earlier included a scrap of crime scene tape and dried blood on the asphalt of the Lucky Lucky Bar parking lot at 545 S.E. 162nd Ave. Signs posted outside the bar warned about security cameras.

Bullet holes marked the bar’s facade, and a handwritten note on a parked car said it belonged to the victims’ grandmother, who was at the hospital and asked the car not be towed.

Alex Martinez returned to the scene Monday morning to try to retrieve his car, which had been held for the investigation. Martinez said he arrived in the area Sunday night to go to a vape store moments after the shooting. He saw a body lying on the ground. He said it looked like a teenager who had been shot three or four times and who appeared to be dead.

Martinez said when he arrived he saw an employee at Stark Street Smoke and Vape hiding behind the counter and a group of teenagers running away. He said a lot of people, especially teens, hang out around the bus stop on 162nd and in the parking lot outside Lucky Lucky.

The bar is a part of a shopping center that includes a laundromat and the vape shop. Around the corner is a 76 gas station, the Rosewood Initiative community center, Su Casa Super Mercado, a Hispanic grocery store, a barbershop, salon and two churches.

The death would mark 31 homicides so far in 2022 — the same number the city recorded by this date last year. At least 92 people were killed in Portland homicides in 2021, shattering the city’s previous record of 70 homicides in 1987.

Police have not said whether there are any suspects or anyone in custody after the Sunday night shooting.

“The bottom line is we are significantly under-resourced as a local community to solve these crimes,” said Wheeler, who is also police commissioner. “We have a shortage of detectives, investigators, officers, prosecutors and public defenders. Last year over 1,000 shootings were recorded, but only a fraction results in criminal prosecutions. If we pull together at all levels, we can do more to prevent gun violence and those who commit it will be held accountable. My deepest condolences to the victims and to their families.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective Michael Greenlee at Michael.Greenlee@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0871 or Detective Brad Clifton at Brad.Clifton@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0696.

–Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens