The police bureau’s surveillance plane was overhead and watching as three people exchanged gunfire across Northwest 4th Street early Friday morning.
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Police Bureau has released video of a gun battle that happened early Friday morning on the streets of Old Town, leading to the arrests of two suspects. The agency said it hopes to find more witnesses to the crime and the people involved.
Just after 2 am on Friday morning, PPB said that officers responded to a report of “possibly armed individuals” around Northwest 4th and Northwest Davis Street. The agency’s surveillance plane responded to assist officers on the ground and caught the subsequent gunfight on video.
The video shows two people seemingly walking together up Northwest 4th when one of them jogs ahead. They appear to be shadowing a figure across the street who has approached a parked car.
Almost simultaneously, the figure that jogged ahead and the one at the car take stances that make clear they are pointing handguns at one another. A third person emerges from the car and opens fire at the figure across the street.
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From that point on, the two figures at the car and the “jogger” across the street trade a constant volley of shots until the latter, outnumbered, retreats. The remaining two figures then walk away in the opposite direction.
Despite the hour, the people involved in the gunfight weren’t the only ones on the street. As police arrived, they thought that there were wounded victims at the scene, but they later discovered that they were people who dropped to the ground in order to take cover and were not injured.
With the help of PPB’s air support plane, officers arrested two people nearby as elements of the Focus Intervention Team responded to help with the investigation.
Between the shooting scene and the two suspects, investigators reportedly seized two guns, 88 cartridge casings and towed a car as evidence. At least one building and several cars were damaged by gunfire.
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Portland police identified the two suspects as Travis A. Gaters III, 29, and Tamarjay D. Polk, 24. Both were booked on a variety of weapons charges, among others, and both were convicted felons.
Investigators are still looking for more suspects in the case, though no descriptions are being released. The investigation is being handled by FIT and the Enhanced Community Safety Team, both of PPB’s gun violence teams.
“ECST investigators consider all gunfire aimed at Portland community members to be attempted murder cases,” police said in a statement. “Eyewitnesses or video evidence is crucial in solving these cases and these crime victims need people to come forward with any information.”
Anyone with more information about the case is asked to email [email protected] and include case number 22-209718.
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