Gang detectives investigating Portland shooting

PORTLAND (AP) — An exchange of gunfire on a Portland street wounded a man and left a bullet hole in the window of a TriMet bus, police said. Kenneth W. Riley, 29, was shot after a shootout Thursday between a vehicle and a group of people on the sidewalk, but it was unclear whether Riley was the intended target. He was treated for a nonlife-threatening wound to his right wrist, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson, Portland Police Bureau spokesman. The bullet that hit the bus traveled through a front window and lodged in the floor without hurting any of the passengers, who included children. A parked car also was hit, Simpson said. The shooting occurred in North Portland in the area of Fremont Street and Williams Avenue. “(We) pulled up to Fremont, heard a couple gun shots,” passenger Chris Parks told KGW-TV. “Suddenly one went through, I was sitting at the front of the bus and heard pop, pop, and then all of a sudden whoosh — which was the third or fourth bullet going through windshield, head level of bus driver.” Neighbors said the area has seen its share of crime. “Not in the last four or five years we haven’t had a shooting like this,” Paul Vanorden told KGW-TV. He said gangs used to be a problem as they pushed crack into the neighborhood. Another neighbor, Kevin Retalia, agreed. “Drug dealing out on the street — on the corners you could see ’em all the time. It was blatant,” Retalia said. “It’s gotten a lot better since then,” he added. “The last two or three years, police have been really active in this area.” Portland police Sgt. Ken Duilao said police have seen an increase in gang violence recently. “There are no jobs for young people these days, so we see all these shootings because young people don’t have a place to turn to,” Duilao said. Police did not say whether Thursday’s shooting was related to Monday’s shooting at a group of people in Holladay Park across from the Lloyd Center shopping mall that claimed the life of a 14-year-old Portland boy.