The city seems to be devolving into further decay.
A couple of weeks ago there was yet another weekend riot in Portland, Oregon. Yes, that’s sadly not the least bit shocking. What you might not be aware of is how these riots and so-called street takeovers have melded into debauchery-filled events not only in Portland but some other cities, including Seattle. While plenty of illegal activities accompany such gatherings, they don’t always lead to a death, like this one did. However, most of the national media is staying silent on this story (with the exception of Fox News).
Learn how grandma hid her supercars from the grandkids here.
Perhaps part of the reason why is Andy Ngo, the man who helped expose Antifa to the wider public, broke this story. I’ve learned from personal experience many in the media absolutely despise Ngo for deconstructing the narrative that Antifa was just an idea or that it was peaceful or harmless. They’ve trained many well-meaning average people to automatically dismiss Ngo and anyone associated with him as spreaders of misinformation.
If you can get over the Ngo connection, this story is not only interesting but incredibly shocking, making the fact it’s getting ignored quite suspicious. Just a single video of the street takeover, which annoyingly was shot in vertical orientation, is enough to make anyone stare in awe. It features a car doing smoky donuts in an intersection while someone standing by the sidewalk shoots a flamethrower into the air.
Of course, the shooting is even scarier. A video shows the action, but Ngo’s account fills in some of the details. The street takeover happened near the Expo Center with hundreds in attendance, which is common for these things. At some point an elderly man in a van was caught in the stopped traffic thanks to the obstructed traffic. His vehicle was surrounded by an angry mob so he tried to reverse away, but hit a car in the process.
That’s when things really go sideways. Someone in the crowd pulls out a gun and fires 18-plus shots at the van as the panicked driver speeds off. Later, the video shows the van sitting in a grassy median, the elderly man in the driver’s seat bleeding. It’s not clear if the man couldn’t drive anymore and pulled off the road, the van overheated from one of the rounds puncturing the cooling system, he tried driving through the median and the van got stuck, etc. See the video here.
Ngo believes the elderly driver was struck by one of the rounds. According to a press release from Portland Police, three people were shot at the street takeover. Ngo says the other two were participants. Police say they found one man with non-life-threatening wounds. The other two had been driven to the hospital. One of the takeover participants didn’t survive.
Really, this situation isn’t surprising all around. Rioting and street takeovers in Portland are out of control. Police seem to have little control over what happens in the streets, in part because of the actions and inactions of local leaders. And with so many getting away with trashing businesses and generally having little regard for the law, it’s not shocking one of them would fire over 18 rounds at a vehicle with people all around. Sadly, it looks like the situation in Portland will have to get far worse before anyone has the conviction to turn the city around.
Read Andy Ngo’s story on The Post Millennial
Image via KOIN 6
