Portland Police Shootings Pass 1,000, Almost Triple 2019 Total

PORTLAND, OR — In 2020, Portland saw nearly 900 shootings over the course of the year. Many attributed at least part of it to the pandemic that had gripped the country. It's 2021, the pandemic is still here, and shootings are on the rise. On Saturday – the middle of October – Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell announced that the city has passed 1,000 shootings for the year.

"Too many have prematurely ended lives and caused injury," Lovell wrote on Twitter. "But all shootings cause trauma to our community."

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The numbers are in stark contrast to the previous three years.

By mid-October 2019, there were around 300 shootings as the city moved toward nearly 390 for the year. Last year, there were around 600 total shootings by this point as the city finished just above 800.

The city is trying new strategies to cut down on gun violence including a focus on deescalating tensions that set the stage for the shootings.