Deangelo Oliver, 29, lay dead in the street late Friday after shots were fired in front of a Southeast Portland home.

Deangelo Oliver, 29, lay dead in the street late Friday after shots were fired in front of a Southeast Portland home. Two other men were wounded in the confrontation. Portland detectives say they believe the shooting about 11:30 p.m. in the 2400 block of Southeast 89th Avenue near Division Street began with an argument as two cars idled side by side. A second shooting early Saturday in downtown Portland left one person hurt, but police say they don't think the incident was related to the Southeast Portland shooting. In Friday's shooting, police arrived in the Montavilla neighborhood to find three people with gunshot wounds. Oliver was declared dead at the scene. The two others, whose names police withheld to protect their safety, were taken to hospitals, one in critical condition with a wound to the face and the other with a leg wound. Both are expected to recover, police said. Oliver's connection to the two men wasn't clear.
The shooter called the family home Saturday to apologize, said Oliver's aunt, Jeretha Marbury.
Marbury wouldn't identify the caller, but she said her nephew had known him since Oliver's days at King Elementary School in Northeast Portland. She said if the shooter was truly remorseful he would turn himself in to police. Police have made no arrests and said they had no suspects.

Marbury wasn't at the home on Southeast 89th at the time of the shooting; she said others told her Oliver was shot in the back of the head after turning his back on the shooter, mistakenly trusting the assailant.

"My nephew understands the streets well enough to know not to turn his back on his enemy," she said.

Her nephew possibly had been affiliated with the Crips street gang and had an arrest record, she said.

And now, even though Oliver had moved on, she believed the shooting had gang-related roots.

"Someone thought they were doing something to help their so-called affiliation," she said. "They need to stop and realize times have changed."

Court records show Oliver pleaded guilty in 2001 in Multnomah County Circuit Court to delivery of a controlled substance. Records show seven other drug-related offenses were dismissed.

"When he was younger he did the things that kids do," Marbury said. "Now he became a man. He got a job. He was working."

For the past year and a half, he held a steady job as a delivery truck driver for a North Portland company that recycles appliances.

Oliver, who lived elsewhere in Portland, had finished work Friday night and was dropping his cousin off at the home on 89th when the shooting happened, Marbury said.

His two children are 4 years old and 6 months old and both lived with him, she said. Oliver, who had attended Jefferson High School, was a lifelong Portland resident.

Early Saturday, police officers, some wearing jackets with "Gang Enforcement" on the back, worked in front of the rented house on Southeast 89th Avenue. They didn't leave until about noon, keeping the street closed with yellow tape.

They appeared to focus their efforts on the home next to where Oliver's body was found, lying in the middle of 89th.

Neighbors think the man wounded in the leg is a member of the Bloods street gang, said Jaime Jimenez, who lives in an apartment complex where the wounded man had been staying. He said the man often wore red clothing, emblematic of that gang.

Jimenez said the man retreated to the apartment after the shooting and left there in an ambulance.

The man shot in the face was found near the intersection of 89th and Southeast Division Street.

Jimenez said the neighborhood, which is split between rental units and owner-occupied homes, has plenty of children but has felt unsafe, particularly after Friday night's shooting.

"We want this to stop," said Jimenez, 51. "If you want to shoot each other, go to the woods and shoot each other. Or just stop."

The area has been in steady decline for about four years, said Eldon Lahti, who owns a six-unit commercial development at the corner of Division and 89th. Trash, graffiti and broken windows are common, he said.

The shooting follows one at Lloyd Center on Wednesday that police said was the latest outburst in a running rivalry between two gangs. Four shootings connected to the gangs have been reported in the past two weeks. Police said they know of no connection between the mall shooting and Friday's shooting.

Portland Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman said Saturday that the city is taking several steps to curb gang violence. He pointed to the police's Hot Spot Enforcement Action Team and said 10 gang outreach workers and the Police Bureau's Gang Enforcement Team are working the streets.
For spring break, the city has enforced curfews in selected areas and set up an information tent in Northeast Portland's Holladay Park, a magnet for gang trouble, he said. The park is next to Lloyd Center. Another program requires adults who've been in trouble with the law because of gangs to attend meetings in which they hear about educational opportunities and what penalties they'll face if they break the law again. They also must listen to mothers who've lost children to gang violence. Two sessions have been held so far, Saltzman said, one for Bloods and one for Crips. The next session will target Latino gangs. Police also are investigating a shooting downtown at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Stark Street. They say they don't know whether it's related to gang violence. A man who was near the scene of that shooting said he had just finished visiting his friends at a hotel on Southwest Sixth Avenue and Oak Street when he heard two "really loud bangs."

"I thought they were fireworks, but it was way too loud," said Bart Betz, a graphic designer. "Then we saw a guy running really fast. As soon as I saw the guy running, I put two and two together."

Betz and a friend got into Betz's car, but Betz, curious, got back out and decided to cross Stark Street and turn the corner. There he saw the victim lying on the edge of the sidewalk. The man had a cross tattooed on his chest, and people were applying pressure on the upper left side of his chest. The man was moaning, and Betz said someone was shouting to him, "Hang on! Hang on!" Several people used cell phones to call 9-1-1. A police cruiser arrived within seconds, Betz said, followed by several more cruisers and a firetruck. Police have not released his name

Terrence "Squeaky" Richardson dealt drugs, randomly robbed people and killed his enemies as a leader of Pasadena Denver Lanes set of the Bloods gang

Terrence "Squeaky" Richardson dealt drugs, randomly robbed people and killed his enemies as a leader of a "violent and notorious gang in Baltimore City," prosecutors said Monday during opening statements in a federal racketeering and drug conspiracy trial.And after he went to prison, they said, he ordered others to take care of business, directing them over mobile phones that were illegally smuggled into his cell."This case is about gangs, drugs and violence," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame Manley said in a repeated refrain Monday.On trial are Richardson and co-defendant Gregory Saulsbury, who is accused of trafficking cocaine, crack and heroin to customers as a "high-end" dealer, which allowed him to drive luxury cars as he made money hand over fist.Their attorneys said the evidence would not support the allegations.
Richardson is accused of belonging to the Pasadena Denver Lanes set of the Bloods gang, the same group that killed a Baltimore County witness in 2007 and wears its signature red bandannas on street corners throughout the city. He was indicted in May along with 33 other defendants, all of them accused of dealing drugs like Saulsbury, and 23 of them, including Richardson, charged with racketeering for the PDL. Richardson and Saulsbury are the first to go to trial in federal court. The rest are scheduled for court dates later in the year, and about a half-dozen of them have publicly pleaded guilty.
It's likely some of those will turn against their so-called former Blood brothers, testifying for the prosecution. U.S. District Court Judge William D. Quarles listed about 10 of the indicted names as potential witnesses in court, and Manley promised to call gang members and their alleged victims, who will describe beatings with baseball bats and the murder of at least one man at Richardson's direction.Manley also plans to introduce video showing an armed robbery that Richardson participated in, as well as recordings of wiretapped phone calls.Richardson's attorney, Pat Woodward, said it was a stretch to call his client "the ringleader" of the robbery and suggested Richardson was all talk."My guy likes to talk and talk and talk," Woodward said. "At some point, you've got to ask yourself, 'What's real here?' "He added that Richardson does not live lavishly as Saulsbury allegedly did. "My man doesn't have anything," Woodward said.
Saulsbury's attorney, Melissa Phinn, said her client "has nothing to do with any gang" and "nothing to do with any violence." The evidence shows that drugs were taken from his home, but it doesn't link him to Richardson or the PDL, she said.Saulsbury is not alleged to be a gang member, just a dealer, according to Manley."In the drug world, Mr. Saulsbury was at the height," the prosecutor said. "He had nice cars, lots of money" and "weight-level customers" who bought by the kilo.Richardson and Saulsbury were arrested as part of a 17-month joint investigation known as Operation Tourniquet, which culminated in mass arrests across Maryland - and two in California - last May at the state and federal levels.Much of the information that led to the arrests came from wiretaps secured by the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. City police and several county departments also participated in the investigation and raids, along with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.There are dozens of street gangs in Baltimore with hundreds of members, half of them belonging to some set of the Bloods, according to data from the University of Maryland.The gang, with its signature red color, was founded in California in the 1970s and spread eastward as various sets, including PDL. There are several subsets of the PDL operating throughout Baltimore, according to the indictment: the "Devil Lanes" in East Baltimore and the "Low End Lanes" in the northeast, among them.The indictment chronicles a shadowy gang world with big egos, in which members use code words to describe illegal activity - police are "roscoes" and gang leaders are known as "Big Homey" - and nicknames to identify one another. Members allegedly dealt drugs, traded guns, ordered hits and paid dues to Bloods in California to keep up their good standing.

car bomb has exploded in the centre of the Colombian port city of Buenaventura, killing at least four people

More than 20 people were hurt in the blast near the mayor's office and the local public prosecutor's building, the authorities say.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.Rebels and traffickers are active in the region which lies on a key cocaine smuggling route.
The explosion has caused widespread damage in the centre of Buenaventura, Colombia's main Pacific port, local media report.
"This is an unfortunate terrorist act," said army commander General Freddy Padilla, indicating he suspected it was the work of rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
President Alvaro Uribe, who leaves office this August, has pursued a tough security policy against the rebels during his years in office.
They have been put on the defensive but they are still able to carry out attacks.
In recent months, the Farc has increased its raids on military posts in the region.
Buenaventura, which has easy access to the coast, has over the years seen battles between guerrilla groups, drug traffickers and paramilitaries for control of lucrative smuggling routes.
It has been hit by bomb attacks in the past.

shooting in the San Fernando Valley has wounded four people, two of them critically.

Police say it appears to be gang-related.Police spokesman Bruce Borihanh says the four were on a Pacoima street at about 10 p.m. Tuesday when several men approached and at least one opened fire.
Detective Pat Barron says a man and a woman were hospitalized in critical condition and two men were in stable condition with non-life-threatening wounds.
No arrests have been made.

Police believe the shootings have escalated beyond the conflict between rival Pembroke gangs Parkside and 42 that was blamed for a spate of gun murders late last year.

Police believe the shootings have escalated beyond the conflict between rival Pembroke gangs Parkside and 42 that was blamed for a spate of gun murders late last year.It is understood that several of the recent incidents, including Friday's triple shooting, may not be directly linked to the two warring gangs.And the latest upsurge in violence across the island shows gangs outside the capital have also become embroiled in the conflict over turf and drugs.Well-informed street sources suggested the shooting outside Place's Place was linked to a pricing dispute between drug dealers, though police would not confirm this.James Lawes, a 26-year-old Jamaican who was killed in the incident, was not known to police as a key player in any gang. Sources told the Sun that Mr. Lawes was not believed to be the main target and his family say he has no connection to gangs or drugs.And some senior officers believe that several of the 40 shootings recorded this year were not specifically gang related.The 'tit-for-tat' shootings between Parkside and 42 are still a concern. But they now feel the continuation of gun violence in Bermuda may be connected to a culture-shift in criminal circles.One police source told us: "It has almost become acceptable to use a gun. Even the shock in the community is not at the same level as it was.

"Instead of bringing fists or a knife to make a statement, the standard thing is to bring a gun. It is almost as though it now takes a gun to send the appropriate message."When gun violence exploded across Bermuda late last year police believed the majority of incidents were linked to an escalating cycle of revenge-inspired shootings between two rival gangs.
They believe that conflict may have cooled slightly.But they fear that firearms have simply replaced knives and machetes as the weapon of choice for criminals in Bermuda."The worrying thing is that if you want to make a point now, you bring a gun. That has become the way of letting people know you are serious."Link-up between gangs?Rumours on the street had suggested some of the violence may have been connected to a link-up between rival gangs combining their resources against the powerful Parkside gang.One street source said: "People believe there has been some kind of peace to fight off this Parkside threat. The 42 guys seem relatively safe hanging out in Somerset. That's how it appears."But while police say known gang members from town and from Somerset have been seen outside of their usual areas they do not believe there is any organized alliance.

55 people had been murdered in the parish of St James

55 people had been murdered in the parish of St James. Most of the victims were annihilated by the gun. Most of them were young men. Most of them hailed from so-called squatter or informal settlements. And most of them were killed by persons in their own age group. This is a most frightening scenario that is not being sufficiently addressed by the powers that be. Why? I will continue to hold the cynical view that as long as these killings do not directly affect the tourism sector or the top echelons of the society, then nothing worthwhile is likely to happen. Indeed, as one fed-up cop told me recently, "Boss, might as well dem keep killing off one annoder. Less work for us and the courts." Add a few extra-judicial killings by the security forces to this sordid picture and it becomes clear that St James is fast becoming a wild, wild West neighbourhood.There was a time when people from rural Jamaica were afraid to go to Kingston. Persons living in Kingston looked forward to coming to the Bay because it was seen as a safe haven where everyone could party in safety and comfort till the break of dawn. Not so anymore. Interestingly, Kingstonians are now laughing at MoBay because the tables have been turned. Some time last year, a high court opined that Montego Bay was no longer the preferred place to be. He was taking that position based on the number of homicide-related cases he had to preside over.
Ironically, Montego Bay remains the main gateway to Jamaica's tourism, and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who is also a member of parliament in St James, continues to boast about how well that sector is doing. During a recent speech at the Rose Hall Resort and Spa, Minister Bartlett pointed to the fact that when most visitors were asked what they found most exciting about their stay, invariably the most frequent answer is the people. Yes, Jamaicans are warm, hospitable, friendly, caring and courteous to our visitors. Jamaica, no problem, mon!

The potent question to be asked, however, is why this same Jamaican will shoot to death another countryman who may have just accidently stepped on his toe at a dancehall session? What bitter-sweet irony! This socio-cultural phenomenon needs to be carefully studied and analysed if we are to come to grips with this harsh reality. Now that there are so many universities putting down their roots in the parish, this is an area of research that should capture the attention and imagination of academia. Perhaps out of such a study will come a greater understanding of the Jamaican psyche and ultimately help to point the way towards meaningful solutions. It has been said that there are three things that make a man feel powerful when he has one of them in his hand - a gun, the microphone or his penis. There are too many guns in St James, which means that there are too many young men in the parish who feel that they are all powerful. What has led to the proliferation of guns? Why are these instruments of death so easily available? How is it possible that unemployed youths who can barely afford three meals a day can have in their possession a gun and ammunition that cost thousands of dollars? Is there some evil genius out there who is distributing these weapons of mass destruction?

The bottom line is that the devil always finds work for idle hands and in St James, especially in the squatter communities, there are scores of young men who are unskilled, untrained, uneducated and in many cases unemployable. Many of them used to be part of a controlled crime syndicate usually led by a no-nonsense don. Over these many years, most, if not all of these dons, have either been incarcerated, killed or gone broke. As a result, these organised crime units fall apart and become very disorganised. In such a setting, many of these splintered groups implode, with intra- rather than inter-gang warfare being the order of the day. The fight for leadership becomes very intense as every little "fryers" sees himself as a potential don. It must be understood that the original don was able to keep his followers together, and if anyone fell out of line then jungle justice would ensue. Now that these dons are no longer around, a free-for-all mentality has taken over and anarchy reigns in the crime underworld which used to have its own kind of stability, thanks to the don. St James no longer has such types of dons, hence the fallout. Yes, in some instances, pretenders to the throne have come forward, many of whom have been deportees with enviable criminal expertise learnt abroad, but except for the "baddest shotta" ruling the roost - and usually it is only for a time - the structure of gangs has become loose and cancerous, invading the social fabric from all angles.It is the expected thing that once one becomes a lotto scammer, then one has to arm oneself. Having acquired a gun, the urge to use it becomes overwhelming. One young man told me that when he got his first gun, he felt very powerful and invincible. The adrenalin rush is so great, the desire to use it becomes increasingly overbearing, so the slightest altercation can lead to a homicide. Once a murder is committed, someone has to pay the price and not necessarily through the court system, which is tedious, long and often riddled with incompetence and corruption. Reprisals therefore become the order of the day.St James is the victim of powerful men and boys - inept and uncaring politicians who remain stuck behind their microphones, promiscuous males who spread sexually transmitted diseases with a vengeance via their penis and those who use the gun to create mayhem by the constant bloodletting. When will it all end? Is there no balm in Gilead?Of course, the obvious solution to the problem is empowerment by way of education, training and a more amenable environment. But where is the leadership and the commitment to make this happen?