Less than 24 hours after a fatal shooting that sparked a war of words between the mayor of Portland and the president, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Sunday night her plan to end the violence in the state’s largest city after months of protests.
Brown asked several law enforcement agencies, state and local, to assist the Portland Police Office and announced plans for a network forum on the right to freedom of expression.
The announced plan comes after a guy shot dead on a Portland street amid clashes between President Donald Trump’s supporters and protesters known as a “good friend” of the right-wing Patriot Prayer organization, founder Joey Gibson said Sunday.
When Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and other city officials expressed their condolences at a news convention Sunday afternoon, Brown accused Patriot Prayer of inciting violence.
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“The right-wing Organization Patriot Prayer and members of the self-proclaimed defense force arrived at downtown Portland last night, armed and to fight,” Brown said in a statement. “All Oregoners have the right to freely express their criticism without worrying about being violent. I’m not going to let Patriot Prayer and the armed white supremacists spill more blood on our streets.”
He added: “On many occasions, from Charlottesville to Kenosha and Portland, we have noticed the tragic final results when right-wing armed vigilantes take matters into their own hands. Gun violence is never the answer.”
Brown’s plan calls on the Multnomah District Attorney’s Office to “prosecute serious crimes, adding arson and physical violence.” According to the plan, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office will arrest Americans for violent behavior. In addition, the Oregon State Police will lend a hand to PPB and use frame cameras.
The governor is also requesting the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Gresham City Police Department from the Portland Police Department. Oregon State Police is also offering two dozen frame cameras to the Portland Police Department.
In addition, the U.S. Attorney and the FBI will devote more resources, according to Brown’s plan.
“The change may not occur overnight and, as we’ve noticed in the last few months, it’s not easy either,” Brown said. “But we are building a fairer future.”
It was not without clear delay if Saturday night’s shooting was related to the clashes, police said. Patriot Prayer supporters clashed with Black Lives Matters demonstrators in the besieged city since Memorial Day, when George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis while in police custody sparked protests across the country.
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A press conference on Sunday didn’t provide much detail about the shooting. Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said he didn’t know if he had political motivations, adding that the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. He and other officials have called for peace.
“We are very involved with the firearms factor, but other people have a constitutional right to bring firearms legally,” Lovell said. “So it’s hard to avoid. Sometimes they happen, you’re talking a fraction of a second, a few seconds. Often we’re not there to see things happen.
“I think the most productive thing we can do is tell other people that we need a town and we ask them not to go downtown to those other places with guns. Don’t interact in violent acts of criminals.”
Wheeler also called for a “reward” for filming to “stay away” from the city, and called the fatal shooting a “potential flash point.”
“That’s why I ask people, if you come from outside town and read something on social media, understand, if you read facts on social media, they’re probably wrong, because I still don’t have all the facts. “
He added: “This is the time to go under the chimney because you read anything on Twitter that a guy invented in his mother’s basement.”
Trump responded Sunday morning with a Bombing on Twitter targeting protesters, Wheeler, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and more sensitive Congressional Democrats. At the press conference, Trump also tweeted, saying Portland will “never get over it with an idiot for mayor.”
He called Wheeler “weak and pathetic” in a later tweet.
Videos of Saturday’s shooting circulated on social media and Portland police begged the public to lend a hand in the investigation.
“If you can provide data on this case, I ask you to contact our detectives,” Lovell said. “This violence is absolutely unacceptable and we are working diligently to locate and stop the responsible user or users.”
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Police said a motorcade with Trump supporters from a rally near Clackamas slowly crossed the center. Officers responded to fights, riots and collisions and made arrests saturday night. 8:30 p.m. local time, the caravan had left the city center. The shooting took place about 15 minutes later.
The photos from the scene showed the victim dressed in a Patriot prayer hat. Gibson said he arrived shortly after the shooting and soon locked himself in a nearby gas station through angry protesters. Lovell did not provide any additional main points about the victim at Sunday’s press conference.
“I can’t say much yet. All I can do is check that he’s a smart friend and a supporter of Patriot Prayer,” Gibson said.
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Trump turned to Twitter on Sunday and urged local leaders to call the National Guard. Residents of Portland and other Democrat-led cities are disgusted with their leadership and Democrats in Washington, Trump said.
“Wheeler is incompetent, like Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump tweeted. “This is not what our wonderful country needs. They need protection and security and they don’t need to dismantle our police!”
Biden issued a Sunday condemning “violence of all kinds committed through anyone, whether left or right.” He challenged Trump to do the same.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, Democrat of La., National Co-Chair of Biden’s campaign, among the Democrats who rejected Sunday. Richmond said in NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that Trump “continues to communicate what Biden’s America would look like. Well, this is Trump’s America.”
Brown, the governor, Trump had “encouraged the department and stoked the violence.”
Wheeler echoed Brown at Sunday’s press conference.
“I’m going to do the pictures I have to do here in my local network charts with my local officials to assume the duty of what’s on our streets and I’d appreciate it if the president will support us or stay away,” he says. .
But Wheeler is attracting attention in his own city. Several civil rights teams and protest coalitions have called for his resignation.
“All of this may have simply been avoided,” said Bobbin Singh, executive director of the Oregon Justice Resource Center. “There were a hundred other decisions that may have taken us the other way.”
Contribute: The Associated Press