Portland police announced Friday morning the arrest of Tyrese Collins, 19, in connection with the shooting death of a homeless man on June 26.
Jack Wilson, 45, died July 3 from the injuries he suffered in the shooting a week before.
Assistant Portland Police Chief Vernon Malloch said during a news conference on Friday that the June 26 case remains under investigation, telling reporters police have not determined a motive for the alleged crime but that they believe there was an altercation between Collins and Wilson before the shooting.
Malloch also told reporters that a July 1 shooting, during which two people were injured in the same Bayside neighborhood, was a case of what investigators are calling reckless handling of a firearm.
No arrests have been made in the July 1 case, and Malloch said police are convinced the shooting was “not connected to a criminal act” but rather a negligent discharge of a gun in a Jeep in which the two injured people — an 18-year-old woman and 30-year-old man — were passengers.
He also addressed what has been reported as rising concern among Bayside neighborhood residents about criminal activity in that area of the city, which is home to the state’s largest homeless shelter. Malloch said the department has “deployed additional officers to that neighborhood for many months now.”
“We are also concerned about the levels of violence and drug use that are going on in Bayside,” Malloch said. “I’ll just remind you the first person on the scene of Mr. Wilson’s being shot was a police officer, and a police officer saw it and heard it. We are in that neighborhood. We have a very heavy presence, and we are working very hard to maintain peace and order.”
He said police are working closely with members of the community there as they seek to curb the criminal activity.
“The vast majority of the people who are there are law abiding,” he said. “Certainly we have levels of addiction, levels of behavioral health issues that can be associated with homelessness, but we have a tremendous level of compliance also. Most people staying at the homeless shelter are not engaged in criminal conduct. If anything, they become victims because they lack resources.”
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