Portland’s mayor and several city councilors on Wednesday denounced violent acts against Portland police officers.
Late Sunday night, several shots were fired into the police station parking garage, and Chief Frank Clark said members of his department have been targeted several times.
“Over the past week or so our officers who are responding to calls for service here in the city, including while attempting to aid a person who reported being assaulted over the weekend, have been targeted with mortar-type projectiles. This is just senseless, it’s dangerous, it’s unacceptable and it must stop now,” Clark said.
While a person of interest has been identified in the shooting, no charges have been filed.
Police have come under increased scrutiny since the death in May of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
“As we work together as a community toward equity, the dismantling of systemic racism, and ensuring our policies and procedures across the city are anti-racist, it’s critical that we don’t resort to violence. … I am grateful to Portland police officers who continue to serve our community through a host of unprecedented challenges,” Mayor Kate Snyder said in a statement.
In a statement, Councilor Belinda Ray said police officers are being dehumanized, and that all Americans are complicit in this country’s horrendous history of racism.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.