Ali Hamad returned to work at a food cart in downtown Portland Saturday evening just 17 hours after he witnessed a shooting that injured seven people and killed a young woman.
His co-worker in Buns on the Run food cart thought he heard fireworks around 2 a.m. on Southwest Third Avenue.
But Hamad knew the sound of gunshots.
He heard at least 15 to 20 shots ring out and said he watched an early 2000s blue Mustang turn left on Southwest Harvey Milk Street and down Third, where it looked like two men shot at a crowd of people at the corner of Harvey Milk and Third.
He said he saw four people injured, and a young woman lying on the ground receiving help from a bystander who applied pressure to her wound and performed CPR.
“It was a typical drunk crowd on a Friday night,” Hamad said. “It was just after 2 a.m., when people started leaving bars, it was people having fun, laughing.”
One food cart customer was shot in the leg while waiting for an order, Hamad said.
“This was a weird incident, so I feel a little skeptical about coming to work. But it’s my only income,” Hamad said. “I’ve seen police officers patrolling the area, trying to be a presence or prevent any violence.”
Joel DeLaRiva, the son of the owners of Mi Casita food truck, said his mother left work at 12:30 a.m., when she was tired after a long day and had a “gut feeling” that something was wrong. It seemed like a normal night, but when the family returned in the morning, the entire block was partitioned off by police, and the family wasn’t allowed into the food truck.
Joel DeLaRiva said the family doesn’t feel safe after the shooting.
Within a two-block radius of the shooting, there are about 10 bars and about eight strip clubs. Many of the buildings nearby, including the former Cameron’s Books store and a club named Silverado, are boarded up. The block of food carts, a popular crawl for late-night food, is lined with city trash cans brimming over.
Several buildings in the area appeared to have exterior security cameras, including the Church of Scientology at 309 S.W. Third Ave. Kevin Allen, public information officer for the Portland Police Bureau, said detectives and criminalists would be working on obtaining video evidence, including any that was captured by business surveillance systems, from the shooting.
The area surrounding the shooting is known for its nightlife, said Walter Weyler, co-chair and president of the Portland Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Weyler, alarmed by recent crime and shootings in downtown Portland, said he hopes the city council is paying attention.
“I know they are, and I hope they are serious about funding initiatives to provide for safety and livability in our city,” he said. “It is impossible for me to imagine that our city is going to have any chance of recovery without having there be a serious attempt to control crime in our downtown area.”
Weyler said many of the small businesses near the shooting have experienced damage, primarily to windows. “Those owners and employees are kind of up against it,” he said. “A greater police presence will help. And it doesn’t have to be brutal activities on behalf of the police, but their presence makes a difference. And if they are understaffed and don’t have the manpower to be present in these areas, there’s no effort to control civil misbehavior.”
Weyler said the neighborhood association’s safety and livability group — a small group of volunteers — is in touch with business leaders and owners throughout Portland, helping them decide what they can do to protect themselves and voice their concerns, as well as letting them know the association is taking initiatives with its connections with the city council and Portland police aimed at supporting safety in the city.
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Food cart workers give accounts of downtown Portland shooting - OregonLive
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