Shooting Reported as Portland Mob Lights Fires, Targets Federal Courthouse
Gunshots rang out near demonstrators as what one top official described as “out of control” Portland, Oregon, saw its 60th consecutive night of unrest.
Sunday evening began with a shooting at a park where protesters gather.
“This incident involved a disturbance in Lownsdale Square Park that resulted in one person being shot. That person went to the hospital by private vehicle and received treatment for a non-life threatening gunshot wound,” Portland police said in a statement.
Police said two people were initially detained, but they were later released.
According to KATU-TV, the shooting followed an argument among several individuals, many of whom were armed.
The shooting came on the same night police found a bag of rifle ammunition and Molotov cocktails in a bag near where the protests were taking place.
Ammunition and destructive devices recovered at Lownsdale Square Park (Photo) https://t.co/k4ZmvTzlh6 pic.twitter.com/xHaLZM8uWi
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 27, 2020
Sunday night’s protests attracted about 1,000 people, according to Oregon Live.
“At about 11:45 p.m. people began launching mortar-style fireworks over the fence. A short time later people climbed over the fence, entering the portico. At about that time a group lit a large fire in Lownsdale Square Park. People in the crowd continually picked at the fence. Some gathered with shields and umbrellas to cover a person trying to cut through it,” Portland police said in a statement.
The unrest continued into Monday as protesters continued to assault the courthouse and started a fire.
After dumping all the @RiotRibs trash at the Portland federal courthouse, they set it on fire. Video by @ShelbyTalcott. #antifa pic.twitter.com/lrM6LPZklu
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 27, 2020
“The fire started quickly, grew into large flames on the sidewalk, and was out within about a minute. Following that, dozens of people approached the outside of the fence with shields and began throwing objects over it,” police said in the statement.
Rioters have now thrown Molotov Cocktails at the courthouse pic.twitter.com/bM5TfqcdzJ
— Drew Hernandez (@livesmattershow) July 27, 2020
The crowd was eventually dispersed by federal agents.
Chad Wolf, the acting secretary for homeland security, said the unrest in Portland is not a byproduct of protests, but is intentional violence.
“What’s going on in Portland is very different than any other city across our country today,” he said Sunday on Fox News.
“What we have in Portland is, every night, again, between midnight and 5 a.m., you have anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000, upwards to 4,000 violent individuals targeting federal property, the federal courthouse there in Portland and federal law enforcement officers.”
“They are arriving every night, using city streets and city parks. They’re coming armed with rocks, bottles, basketball bats, power tools, commercial-grade fireworks, eliciting that violence, and targeting their violence on federal courthouse and federal law enforcement officers.”
“What we see in Portland is a city, at least at certain hours of the night, completely out of control,” Wolf said. “We see city leadership there has fostered an environment that allows these criminals to do this throughout the night, untouched, absolutely untouched.
“It’s time for Portland to join other responsible cities around this country, working with federal law enforcement, to address this violence.”
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