PORTLAND, Oregon. One person was killed and five injured in a shootout Saturday night during a protest in Portland against police killings.
The Portland Police Department said the woman was dead when police arrived. Two men and three women were taken to a nearby hospital, police said. Information about their condition was not immediately released to the public.
The shooting took place near a park in Portland, which has been the site of a number of protests against police killings in recent years. Neighbors said several shots were fired.
“I was sitting in a room talking to my wife and all of a sudden you hear repeated gunshots,” said Jeff Pry, who lives in the area.
Several other details about the shooting soon became known.
Portland was the center of the racial justice protests sparked by the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. In Portland, demonstrations sometimes escalated into violence between protesters and counter-protesters.
Information on social media indicates that Saturday’s protest was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amir Locke. mortally wounded police in Minneapolis when they were executing a search warrant in the early hours of February 2. The murder of Mr. Locke, who was black, caused anger in Portland.
Mr. Locke was not the subject of a police raid, which was carried out with a so-called no-knocking order that did not require residents 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 Department of Justice, which said they were not honoring a previous settlement agreement.
The use of undercover FBI surveillance teams in response to protests in Portland and paramilitary federal agents who sent to protect federal buildings, caused concern about violation of rights and abuse of power.