4 murders in 24 hours is ‘tragic coincidence,’ police say

By Jeffrey Lindblom

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — The city of Portland has seen four murders in a 24-hour period.

This includes two deadly stabbings downtown, one near West Burnside and Northwest Third, and 12 hours later, another near Northwest Broadway and Northwest Couch. On Friday morning, a person was shot and killed near the 200th block of Southeast 18th Avenue, and 23 hours later, another person was shot near Northeast 162nd Avenue and Northeast Sandy Boulevard.

Police have made arrests in connection with the first three of the four murders, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

Police Sgt. Kevin Allen said the PPB feel the same impact that the community feels.

“A lot of people died violent deaths in a very short period of time,” Allen said. “That’s what we signed on for, but we’re all human beings too and when we have this much going on and this much terrible things happening – it affects us as well. While we do this for a living, it’s still hard. It’s still difficult.”

Three years ago, the Portland homicide rate was 25-30 homicides a year.

“We are now at 72 homicides this year to date and counting,” Allen said.

Allen said he doesn’t believe there is any connection between the four deaths.

“As far as we can tell, it’s just a tragic coincidence that they all happened in such a short period of time,” Allen said.

Police are still looking for anyone from the community with information about the deadly shooting off Sandy Boulevard to come forward, something Allen said was vital to the arrests made on the previous three.

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