Portland man under suspicion in mass shooting fixated on city's protests, homeless problem

[swag]

Source: Oregonian

Portland man under suspicion in mass shooting fixated on city’s protests, homeless problem, neighbors and family say

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A 43-year-old machinist who has lived for 14 years across the street from Normandale Park is the man under investigation after witnesses said he confronted protesters Saturday night and suddenly pulled a gun and started shooting.

Benjamin Jeffrey Smith had grown increasingly angry at demonstrations set in the Northeast Portland neighborhood, his brother told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Smith also got upset by protests occurring across the city and homeless people picking through trash in his apartment complex and living near the park, his roommate and neighbors said.

He lately had added COVID-19 health mandates to his complaints, the roommate said.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/02/portland-man-under-suspicion-in-mass-shooting-fixated-on-citys-protests-homeless-problem-neighbors-and-family-say.html?fbclid=IwAR3Jmm-TEh8DorA8VXv7iNqQZbKUAU3fRzDV36uRxBJ_YVYNLFilHs0ozqk

[swag]

1. Portland anti-fascists had ID'd the fellow on Twitter much earlier in the day.

Now it's confirmed.

Short thread on the shooter (npt a "homeowner" as the Portland police kept bizarrely reffering to the shooter today):

Link to tweet

?fbclid=IwAR2ar9FW7JE4xcy6g-zfbh5n2cPD8s2rfOIFz4aMrFcpNdtPMag-Z1GCzys

[Skittles]

2. missing a beard and chin

yes

[Drum]

4. What the heck is he driving??

…aside from that, revulsion

[mockmonkey]

7. 1960 Dodge Dart, Polara or Matador?

They all had that see through speedometer.

[swag]

3. A good summary

Link to tweet

[uppityperson]

5. Good guy with a gun stops a massacre by a bad guy with a gun

My condolences to friends and family of June.

[certainot]

6. when the fuck are media going to start asking if these shitheads are dittoheads

[barbtries]

8. it must be miserable

to be incapable of summoning any compassion or understanding for others. just rage and hatred. right wing media, propaganda, disinformation, killing people.

this guy's future looks pretty bleak. can't imagine it was worth it, not even to him.

ran into a paywall at the link: has he been arrested?

[csziggy]

9. This article says his apartment was searched, but nothing about an arrest

Alleged killer in Normandale Park protest shooting identified as Benjamin Smith
By Jonathan Levinson (OPB)
Feb. 22, 2022 1:27 a.m.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christenson, who said she and her neighbors are shocked but not surprised by what happened, said Portland Police Bureau detectives and special agents with the FBI came to her apartment just after midnight early Sunday morning to ask her about Smith, including whether or not he owned any firearms.

Late Monday night, Portland police officers returned to the apartment with a search warrant looking for guns and computers, Christenson said.

She didn’t know how many guns Smith owned, but she said that he owned everything from shotguns to rifles and handguns, and that Smith sometimes repaired weapons for other people.

“He talked about wanting to go shoot commies and antifa all the friggin‘ time,” Christenson said. “He was just a sad angry dude. … He talked about wanting to do this for a while. He was angry at the mask mandates, he was angry at the damned liberals.”

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/02/21/alleged-killer-in-normandale-park-protest-shooting-identified-as-benjamin-smith/

[barbtries]

10. hard to get why not.

there must be plenty of witnesses.

[csziggy]

11. I'm not sure they have been able to find him

His own brother is still looking for him, according to that article.

[barbtries]

12. okay that explains it.

thank you.

[maxsolomon]

14. he's in the hospital, OHCS

he got shot by one of the protestors.

[maxsolomon]

13. Lots of middle aged white guys in the PNW are fixated

on the city's protests and homeless problem. I encounter them regularly.

They don't have arsenals. Or they do, but they don't shoot unarmed women actively trying to de-escalate.