Portland Police Pleading for Public’s Help to End Shooting, Murder Spree
A Portland police officer guards the scene of a fatal shooting near a pro-Trump rally on August 29, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Far left counter-protesters and pro-Trump supporters clashed Saturday afternoon as a parade of cars carrying right wing supporters made their way from nearby Clackamas to Portland. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Police officials in Portland are seeking the public's help to break the cycle of violence in the Oregon city, where shootings and murders have risen. This was according to local officials, as reported by Fox News.

Portland officials have reported at least 850 shooting as of Dec. 24. At least 59 from those number were reported only this month, according to Portland Police Bureau statistics.

Meanwhile, there were 33 shootings reported in December last year.

This year's shootings had exceeded last year's by more than 116 percent with 393 shooting reported in all of 2019. This is as of this year's Christmas Eve.

Portland Police Bureau Lieutenant Greg Pashley said that at least 225 people were shot this year, some of which contributed to the number of homicides reported, according to a KGW8 report.

"The number of bullets that must have been flying around our neighborhoods, city streets, sidewalks - it's awful," Pashley was quoted on a report.

PPB's gun violence reduction team was abolished in the summer after the criticism of advocates, saying that the gun violence team was stopping people of color disproportionately to others.

Chief Chuck Lovell said that they cannot lose sight of the fact that those are human beings who died. PBB has no clear plans as of now hot to handle the huge rise in gun violence.

Sgt. Kenneth Duilio said that many shootings are gang-related and sometimes innocent people are caught in the middle of a crossfire.

Duilio used to work on the gun violence reduction team for 19 years before it was disbanded. He said that they are all connected, adding that some of these connections do not just go back like for a few weeks or a few months. The former officers said that these gangs go back years and years.

Lovell said that gun violence has affected the city twice the rate last year, adding that on average, someone is hot in Portland approximately every two days. Lovell described 2020 as a deadly year for Portland.

He then urged to stay home to keep other safe, and practice the wearing of face masks to curb the spread of a deadly disease.

"Violence is also a disease that kills and our community is suffering the consequences," Lovell was quoted.

Christmas Morning Fires

Meanwhile, two days ago, fire investigators in Portland had a suspect in custody and were seeking additional information after a series of small suspected arson fires between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Christmas morning, according to another Fox News report.

Officials did not further release any information about the suspect as they believe that there weas no longer a threat to people living in the area.

Lt. Rich Chatman said that these fires were relatively easy for crews to handle.

Chatman added that, however, they appeared to be attempts at burning down both commercial buildings and occupied residential buildings.

A 52-year-old man named Andre Williams was then arrested on charges of include first and second-degree arson and reckless burning, according to another KGW8 report.