Police respond to rampant illegal street racing over the weekend in Portland

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Portland police responded to numerous calls about illegal street racing over the weekend. Officials say it caused roadblocks and incidents that involved multiple people being shot.

According to a press release, at least four people were shot this weekend at what police are calling illegal races.

Police say a similar situation unfolded Sunday, just before 1 a.m. Calls came in about someone being shot near north Going Street and north Basin Avenue.

Officers found hundreds of people leaving what they say appeared to be another illegal race. Soon after this, two people showed up separately at a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

The same day, at around 11 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a shooting near NE I-5 over MLK Boulevard where they say hundreds of people were illegally street racing. Officials say one man was found shot at the scene and had non-life-threatening injuries. Another shooting victim showed up at a Washington hospital in the same condition.

Following these came a third person who was driven to the hospital with unknown gunshot wounds.

FOX 12 spoke with a man who was driving around where the crowds were blocking traffic early Sunday morning, saying it took him over an hour to get home.

“Within just a few minutes there were about 2-300 people there parking all around blocking,” said Scotty Day. “They almost hit my truck driving down Columbia Boulevard after everything was done.”

Portland police say an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested in connection to the incident that happened on north Going Street.

Officials say responding to these kind of calls quickly requires a large number of officers, which are not always available.

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