Posted on 01/26/2009 10:19:51 AM PST by Jack Black
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A man opened fire outside a downtown Portland nightclub Saturday night, killing two girls and wounding seven other people before shooting himself in the head, police said.
Gunfire erupted near the popular downtown bar Kells Irish Pub and the underage nightclub The Zone at about 10:30 p.m., according to the Portland Police Bureau. Police said nine people were shot on the sidewalks and streets outside the two establishments.
By the time police arrived, a teenage girl had already died, police said. A second teenage girl died after being taken to a Portland hospital.
The victims have been identified as 16-year-old Ashley Wilks, who attended Clackamas High School and planned to study abroad; and 17-year-old exchange student Marta Paz De Novoa, who was from Peru and had been staying with a family from White Salmon, Wash.
Both girls were part of a group of exchange students at The Zone to celebrate a birthday, said Chuck Itoh, chairman of the Rotary District 5100 exchange program.
An employee from Kells was one of seven other victims who were rushed to area hospitals Saturday night. By mid-morning Sunday, two had been released, three were in stable condition and two remained in critical condition, including 18-year-old Susy De Sousa, of Italy.
Portland officers said the suspect in the shooting, 24-year-old Erik Ayala, was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Ayala lives in Milwaukie. Detectives haven't been able to determine the motive and they said the shooting didn't appear to be gang-related.
There was a wedding reception on the upper level of Kells Irish Pub at the time the shooting took place. Witnesses described a chaotic scene with many people running and screaming.
"If I walked out any earlier, I could have been in the (gunfire), so that was pretty scary," said Rafael Dwan, who was at Kells on Saturday night.
There's no known connection between Ayala and the victims, according to officers. Most of the victims were between the ages of 16 and 21 years old.
"The ones we saw were young," Dwan said. "One of the managers was shot as well, apparently in the stomach."
Detectives said they recovered a gun used in the shooting at the scene.
Police Chief Rosie Sizer described the shooting as "unprecedented" in Portland.
"This shooting appears to be a random act of violence, of the kind that makes you despair for America," Sizer said.
Kells and The Zone are located near the intersection of Southwest 2nd Avenue and Pine Street. The immediate area includes several bars and typically attracts a large number of people on weekend nights.
Detective Mary Wheat said it didn't appear Ayala had been inside either place before the shooting.
It still just doesn’t happen..., just like it said — unprecedented...
The last time I ever heard of a shooting in downtown Portland was mid-day, during a business day with lunch hour traffic out there and I believe it was right on Broadway. Some guy mad at another guy and a bit crazy, too — just walks up and shoots him several times and walks away. That’s about it, as far as I’ve heard...
And you know there probably weren’t anybody on the streets of portland with a legal carry firearm for personal protection. Bummer about people getting killed, the shooter is where he belongs though.
Sanctuary city? (Just askin’)
They don’t allow concealed carry in bars but they allow 16 year old girls?
Here is the side bar about the shooter from the O article.
Suspect called quiet, video game fan
Erik Salvador Ayala was a quiet man with an interest in computers and video games, not guns or nightclubs, his friend and roommate said Sunday.
Ayala’s mysterious appearance and alleged shooting spree outside a downtown Portland club Saturday night shocked and mystified his friends, said Mike Delisle, Ayala’s roommate.
He said he had no idea why his roommate went downtown Saturday night and he doesn’t think Ayala knew any of the victims.
“It was a big surprise. I didn’t see it coming,” said Delisle, who attended Keizer’s McNary High School with Ayala. “He was a quiet person. He kept to himself.”
Ayala did not frequent dance clubs, such as The Zone, Delisle said. Ayala was not a violent person, did not own a gun and never showed an interest in firearms, he said.
Ayala had worked for the state of Oregon as a contract employee about two years ago. Since then he has worked for temporary employment agencies, Delisle said.
In high school, Ayala was in the McNary band and was a bit of a practical joker. He kept to himself and was hesitant to show his emotions, Delisle said.
One of the things that brought him joy was playing video games such as “Resistance: Fall of Man,” in which an Army Ranger fights an alien race that is trying to take over the world, or “Left 4 Dead,” where the object is to slay fighting zombies.
Half a dozen criminalists converged on a Milwaukie apartment Sunday afternoon to shoot video, take still photographs and examine Ayala’s home.
The apartment is among 18 in four buildings that make up a small complex on Southeast 32nd Avenue.
The police said Sunday evening that Ayala, 24, was the man who shot nine people Saturday night. He shot himself afterward and was in critical condition Sunday night.
Earlier on Sunday, a police video photographer went alone into the small apartment for more than 30 minutes, then the other forensic officers, pulling on rubber gloves, entered as well.
Ayala’s neighbors said the complex draws students and other short-term tenants who generally don’t speak anything more than pleasantries to each other.
Esther Ramirez, 24, who moved into the apartment directly above Ayala’s eight months ago, said she had seen a woman who appeared to be Ayala’s girlfriend coming out of Ayala’s apartment; she said she thinks the girlfriend is deaf because Ayala communicated with her with American Sign Language.
Jake Moreland, 15, and his mother, Renee, 48, live in an apartment directly across a small courtyard from Ayala. Renee Moreland said she saw police officers around the Ayala building well into Sunday morning; she said she was stunned to know the possible reasons for the police interest.
“He was really quiet,” she said. “I just can’t believe this is happening.”
Records show that Erik Salvador Ayala once lived in Keizer at the same address as Salvador and Mildred Ayala in a one-story, ranch-style home in a working-class neighborhood.
No one answered the door at the white house with blue trim Sunday afternoon. There was a car and a pickup in the driveway.
Neighbors say the Ayalas are a nice family, willing to help out if they can. They are quiet, no complaints, said Sidney Mosley, who lives next door. Mosley has lived in the neighborhood for two years and said the Ayalas were there when she moved in.
Mosley said she knows the mom doesn’t speak a lot of English. There is a girl who goes to high school and boys living there, though Mosley doesn’t know how many boys or their names. She thinks one of the boys works for Target.
Told that one of the sons may have been involved in a shooting in Portland, she said: “I wouldn’t have thought anything like that.”
A neighbor across the street said she found it “incredibly hard to believe” that one of the boys from the Ayala family would be involved. The neighbor did not want to be named and was not willing to give information other than to confirm that Salvador and Mildred Ayala lived across from her. She said the Ayala kids have helped her out when her car was broken and also helped her with her computer.
Obama’s fault.
Nutcase. I bet he had made a pass at one of the girls - or perhaps didn’t even dare to go that far and just had a distant crush - and she either rejected him or didn’t even realize he was alive. Or perhaps he thought one of the guys was after the girlfriend his neighbors talked about. Or maybe he was just jealous of people having a good time. Very sad, in any case.
This was a no-alcohol teen bar. The kids had just arrived and hadn’t even entered. (And minors can’t carry pistols anyway.)
The victims were cream-of-the-drop straight-A Rotary Youth Exchange students, one from Peru, and the other a local girl planning to travel to France next year.
The spot was not a bad or dangerous one. This was just a nutball who decided to ruin lives. I had heard elsewhere that there was an intended target, but I’m unsure if either of the deceased girls was it. This does not appear to be a concealed carry political issue. Deterrents don’t work on nutcases.
I didn't see any Irish names in the article. I did see a name from "Gone With The Wind."
That sidebar said — “Records show that Erik Salvador Ayala once lived in Keizer at the same address as Salvador and Mildred Ayala in a one-story, ranch-style home in a working-class neighborhood.”
For those who don’t know... Keizer is a nice community south of Salem, Oregon, the capital of Oregon (about an hour drive, or less, south of Portland).
sorry, north of Salem... (getting my directions mixed up...)
Thanks for that info, I wasn’t even certain what state it was in.
Sounds like a loner who had a hard time making connections. I’m not a believer in corruption by computer games, but if that was all the life he had, it could have affected him.
Where did he get the gun? It doesn’t sound as if he was a hunter or a habitual criminal.
“The victims have been identified as 16-year-old Ashley Wilks...”
isn’t that a certain General’s nickname?
Also, for those who don’t know...
“Half a dozen criminalists converged on a Milwaukie apartment Sunday afternoon to shoot video, take still photographs and examine Ayala’s home.”
Milwaukie (spelled right...) is an adjacent suburb to Portland, on the east side of the Willamette River, directly south of Portland... (about a 15 minute drive, I would guess from downtown...).
“This shooting appears to be a random act of violence, of the kind that makes you despair for America,” Sizer said.
Ummmm.... No.
Obama makes me despair for America.
“Sounds like a loner who had a hard time making connections.”
One article states his mother doesn’t speak ‘much’ English and that several ‘boys’ lived at their home. Sounds like gangs to me.
Yet, those laws never stop the shooter so obviously the answer is even more gun laws. Insanity.
Yes. I would be very interested to know the immigration status of both the shooter and his parents.
Perhaps they are legal, perhaps they are not. Certainly the fact that the mother can’t speak English well indicates she is not native.
Many of the worst gang-bangers are legal (if you agree with prevailing ‘anchor-baby’ interpretation of the Constitution) children of illegal immigrants. Many are angry at the entire society for the perceived injustices that their parents have been forced to endure as illegals.
The MSM will chalk this up to gun availability, but few will be willing to discuss the imported crime wave that this is a part of.
I spend a fair amount of time in the establishment next door: Kell’s. There is no way I would let my 16 year old daughter go to “The Zone”, ever.
It may be semi-safe once you are inside, but 2nd street is nowhere to be hanging out on a weekend night. There have been a number of street shootings around these clubs at night. Usually they happen at 2:00 when the bars are closing. A homeless man sleeping in a doorway a few blocks from there was killed by a wild shot fired at the clubs.
My heart goes out to the victims. Yes, they were good kids and didn’t deserve this. I think the adults made a poor decision in choosing this venue to entertain them.
Funny how 'nutcases' never go into gun shops, cop bars, Mafia social clubs, biker bars, isn't it? Odd how street nutcases that supposedly can not take care of themselves never walk in front of buses, or stumble down onto commuter tracks and live outdoors in climates that would make a Seal Team survivalist die of pneumonia in a month?
Odd. All these people grift, er, drift though all the social service, food pantries, half way houses pretty damn fine.
Your right. I should have said that deterrents don’t work as well on nutcases as they do on the more rational evil folks out there.
1. Mr. Ayala apparently shot people pretty indiscriminately, and most likely very quickly; however, both of the dead were girls, which may be suggestive of something.
2. Mr. Ayala shot himself, which suggests that he may have been more interested in a "blaze of glory" type of suicide than anything else.
3. His roommate says that there were no indications of problems. He may be lying, but then again, perhaps Mr. Ayala was a quiet sort of loon.
4. He had a state job, but had worked at a temp agency for the past two years. This suggests that Mr. Ayala may have had "difficulties" of one sort or another.
I would not be surprised to learn that one of Mr. Ayala's temp jobs was either at or near the club in question; and that he either developed a crush on, or hatred for, somebody who worked there.
Folks, these types of incidents are going to be commonplace during the Obama regime. Remember the rash of school shootings that happened in Clinton’s 2nd term? It’s the demoralization of our nation and general breakdown in ethics that comes from the top. People see this and get emboldened to commit these heinous crimes.
By using media DOUBLESPEAK and INVERTED SPIN techniques, you can, via deductive and inductive reasoning, probably infer the real story.
“no gangs were suspected” = truth, or “gangs or affliates of gangs were involved”
No national news about the Mayor Sam Adams(D) and his underage gay sex scandal.
The media is garbage.
RIP.
They have released his suicide note. (Which says nothing, it’s a note to his roomate on where to sell the video game.)
Still no reporting on his immigration status or that of his parents.
I’m starting to smell ‘coverup’. My comments on the OregonLive blog were censored.
You know the Oregonian has issues because they have to censor all their blogs. Ever post is vetted. Funny.
Can’t let the serfs know what each other are thinking.
They did allow relatively free comments on the Adams thing - for about 4 hours, then shut that down altogether.
Pathetic. Portland won’t get fixed until we have better press.
“Pathetic. Portland won’t get fixed until we have better press”
Nothing will get fixed until we have a better press. They are enemy #1!
***Nothing will get fixed until we have a better press. They are enemy #1!***
America’s Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.
There’s an underage club down there.
Speaking of underage, anybody spot The Mayor down there? He likes his boys on the young side.
Yes, he’s a democrat. Yes, he’s gay. Yes, he’s not leaving office any time soon.
The Most Ethical Party in the World - The Democrats.
I guess the only thing you don’t want to be caught with any more is the dead girl. Live boys are now officially OK by the democrats.
Unfortunately true.
“I’m starting to smell ‘coverup’. My comments on the OregonLive blog were censored.”
Jack, the details of this will be covered by Lars Larson out of Portland today, I’m sure. I will try to catch his show to see what’s up. It comes on noon pacific time.
You can listen live.
The truth is the enemy of the domestic and international media.
It was only last week I was arguing with another Freeper that the Washington state prohibition on non-citizens owning guns is not a bad law.
I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about banning guns than about ending the import of angry Mexican criminals.
White Salmon is well over a one hour drive from that part of Portland; and on a school night. That part of Portland is not a place to be at night.
The Rotary organization can expect to be sued and pay out a ton of money. Totally irresponsible of them to sponser this party.
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