Police are investigating a possible drive-by shooting at North Portland’s Dawson Park on Thursday afternoon.
Officers from North Precinct and the Police Bureau’s gun violence unit responded to the park around 4 p.m. and found shell casings in the street and bullet strikes to a picnic shelter. No one was injured in the shooting, police said.
Police said they believed someone fired shots from a passing car, but they don’t know who may have been the target. Several shots were fired, but police declined to say the exact number.
The North Portland park has historically served as a hub for the city’s Black community.
A fatal shooting last year that littered a corner of the park with dozens of bullet casings renewed community members’ calls for a heightened police presence in the area.
The Police Bureau’s North Precinct has made it a top priority to tamp down drug deals and gun violence. Earlier this year, police arrested a minimart owner accused of dealing illegal drugs from his store near the park.
Thursday’s shooting comes over a month after officers responded to a shooting Aug. 12 that wounded a man in the 100 block of Morris Street near the park. Police said he was seriously injured and has since been released from the hospital. No charges have been filed in the shooting.
Police ask anyone with information about Thursday’s shooting to email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case No. 25-264820.
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