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
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