Brentwood-Darlington shooting not thought gang-related

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A third Portland-area shooting within three days brought Portland and Milwaukie Police officers to S.E. 69th Avenue, in the Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood, on Friday, July 20, at about 12:30 pm.

An AMR ambulance crew responded to help the 37-year-old gunshot victim, but left without a patient. Police soon learned the victim had been taken to Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in a pickup truck by an acquaintance.

Officers, including those from the PPB Transit Division, took defensive positions on S.E. Flavel Street, their long guns drawn, as the command staff formulated a search strategy for the shooter.

Walking south from S.E. Flavel Street, along S.E. 69th Avenue down to where it comes to a dead end, heavily-armed officers used a slow-moving PPB district patrol car as a rolling shield. After searching the area, they left without taking anyone into custody.

Their area of interest had shifted south, staging at S.E. 72nd Avenue, where officers had their guns pointed westward along S.E. Crystal Springs Boulevard. Others, including a K-9 Unit, walked south on 72nd Avenue, then turned west on S.E. Tenino Street.

Although it appeared as if numerous witnesses had been detained at the two locations for hours, officials maintained they didn’t receive a good description of the shooter.

That evening, PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Peter Simpson reported, “The victim in this afternoon’s shooting has been identified as 37-year-old Sean Cook. Cook suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to a leg.”

About the case, Simpson added, “No arrests have yet been made, and detectives are continuing to investigate. The shooting is apparently not gang-related.”