Stepped up youth violence enforcement was announced today by Portland city officials, who said four gang-related shootings have been logged in the past week, two of them fatal.
Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, Lt. Kevin Modica, Commander Jim Ferraris and Mayor Sam Adams at a press conference Tuesday afternoon
Officials spoke at a press conference on the Monday night death of 17-year-old Billy A. Moore, who reportedly had no known gang ties and was on the way home from the deathbed of his mother, a leukemia patient on life support at Oregon Health and Science Hospital.
Commander Ferraris describes the bureau's anti-gang plans in detail here
Moore was shot at around 7:30 p.m. after a verbal exchange with a group of youths on the street near a bus stop.
Police said today they had arrested a 17-year-old boy who has been charged with murder in the case, but Chief Mike Reese declined to comment on whether either of the youths involved in the shooting were known to be in a gang.
An earlier statement by the bureau said the shooting happened "after an argument on a bus and that gang activity is possibly related to the incident."
Mayor Sam Adams said Columbia Villa residents on the scene of the shooting on the 8900 Block of N. Woolsey were instrumental in apprehension of the murder suspect and recovery of evidence at the scene.
The Oregonian reported today that Moore, the homecoming king of his graduating class this month at the Rosemary Anderson High School in North Portland, was a hard-working young man with a job who is dedicated to his family.
His mother died soon after midnight Tuesday morning, hours after Moore was shot across the street from the Columbia Villa Boys and Girls Club and died at his home a block and a half away.
Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call Detective Molly Daul at 503-823-0991.
