PORTLAND — A teenage girl was struck by a bullet in a Southeast Portland apartment after a man in the unit next door discharged a rifle while cleaning it.
The 17-year-old girl suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to her leg and was transported to a Portland-area hospital for treatment. The shooting happened at a unit in the 1200 block of Southeast 130th Avenue.
Christopher Morris, 52, told police he was cleaning his lever-action rifle in his apartment when the gun fired a round. The bullet traveled through the wall and struck the neighbor.
A woman who lives on the other side of the man’s apartment said the bullet could just as easily have hit her and her son.
“We were both sitting on the couch on the other wall. I mean, it could’ve been us,” said neighbor Rebecca Andyke. “We’re lucky to be safe and able to go home tonight. And I wish the best for the girl that got grazed.”
Officers took the man into custody for further investigation and seized the rifle as evidence.
June 10, 2013 5:45 AM