Portland police are investigating three shootings in North Portland reported during a five-hour span Wednesday night. North Precinct and gang enforcement officers responded at 4:26 p.m. to a report of a shooting in the 4300 block of North Willis Boulevard. A woman had reported her grandson had been shot, police said, and officers located a person with a gunshot wound to the arm who was headed to a local hospital. Officers are investigating reports that the shooting happened near a convenience store at the corner of North Lombard Street and Portsmouth Avenue. Police also are investigating reports that the shooting occurred between occupants of two vehicles stopped near that intersection…. Two additional shootings were reported in other parts of North Portland, with no reports of injuries. At 6:51 p.m., officers responded to a report of multiple gunshots fired at Trenton Park, at North Trenton Street and Hamlin Avenue. At 9:05 p.m., officers responded to another report of multiple gunshots in the area of North Lombard Street and Van Houten Avenue.
So there was a little bit more excitement than usual in the ‘hood the night before last. Erin and I have been in our new house near the University of Portland for almost three months now, and to say that we love the house and the neighborhood would be something of an understatement. Like anything else in life, though, there are trade-offs, and our new home is no different. We were able to get more home for the money in North Portland than we would have in most other parts of town, but some of the surrounding area can be a little…um, sketchy. I’m fine with that, because North Portland in general, and the University Park/St. Johns neighborhoods in particular, are beginning to improve. New homes and businesses are being built, and while no one would ever confuse where we live with tonier places like Irvington, Dunthorpe, or Lake Oswego, it has its charms and we’re happy to call it home.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not thrilled with the idea of a shooting taking place three blocks away as Erin and I were sitting on the couch eating dinner and watching television. As a very wise man once said, “Shit happens, man.” No one wants to be in the vicinity when gunfire breaks out, but I’m a bit more laissez faire about it than Erin. Her reaction was to say that we shouldn’t walk in the area where the gunfire took place. I walk around and through that area all the time, and I have no problems with it. I’ve lived and worked in three different war zones, and in places where law enforcement personnel carrying automatic weapons was de riger. I don’t want to be reckless and take stupid risks, but I have a hard time with curtailing what I’m doing because something happened one time at an intersection three blocks away. Sometimes you need to keep on keeping on without worrying about what might (or might not) happen.
We live in a city, and in a part of that city where poverty, drugs, and guns intersect from time to time. It’s not like our neighborhood is unsafe; far from it. We just have to remember that this is the price of admission for living where we do. Life happens around us, sometimes within earshot, and that life can occasionally be rather rough and tumble. From my perspective, I’ve lived and worked in places where things like snipers and minefields were part of the background noise that came with the territory. I tried not to take stupid risks, but I always knew that I could at any time find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The same holds true in my neighborhood today. I live my life and somewhere in the back of my mind hope there’s not a bullet out there with my name on it. It doesn’t make sense to live scared.
Shit happens, man. The best you can do is to hope you’re elsewhere when it goes down…and keep on living your life. As long as I don’t have to account for snipers or minefields, I’m a happy boy.
