Northwest briefs

Portland sees six shooting incidents within nine hours

PORTLAND, Ore. — As gun violence plagues Portland, police in Oregon’s largest city responded to six shootings within a nine hour span between Thursday night and early Friday.

The shootings included a car chase, during which suspects shot at an officer. Three people were arrested and the officer was not injured.

Although last year was marked by record high numbers of gun violence in Portland, the number of shooting incidents during the first month of 2022 outpaced January 2021, according to police data.

During January alone, police recorded 127 shootings. So far this year at least 22 people have been injured by gunfire and there have been at least 13 homicides.

In 2021, the city recorded 90 homicides amid a surge in gun violence, shattering the city’s previous high of 66 set more than three decades ago.

Last year, the number of homicides in Portland surpassed more populous cities such as San Francisco and Boston — and more than double the number of slayings in its larger Pacific Northwest neighbor Seattle.

Oregon DHS employee accused of kidnapping woman in his care

SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon Department of Human Services employee has been charged by a federal grand jury with kidnapping and sexually abusing a woman.

The Statesman Journal reports that an indictment returned by a federal grand jury this week says Zakary Glover, 28, of Lebanon, allegedly drove a woman with severe cognitive disabilities to a remote, dead-end road in Aumsville, where he “engaged in sexual misconduct.”

The woman has severe autism and “communicated mostly through the use of pictures, videos, and drawings,” according to the indictment.

A grand jury in U.S. District Court in Portland returned the indictment of Glover on Feb. 17, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for Oregon.

Glover is charged with depriving the victim of her constitutional right to bodily integrity, while acting under color of law. The indictment said his conduct included attempted sexual abuse and kidnapping. Glover is also charged with kidnapping.

Glover was a direct crisis support specialist for the department’s Stabilization and Crisis Unit, which operates 24-hour residential care programs throughout western Oregon.

Glover faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. An attempt to locate an attorney for Glover wasn’t immediately successful.

Williams confirmed to lead U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

HELENA, Mont. — Martha Williams, the former director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, has been confirmed to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination Thursday night via voice vote.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is part of the Department of Interior, is responsible for protecting species listed under the Endangered Species Act and oversees national conservation efforts, including fisheries, hatcheries, migratory birds, ecological services and federal wildlife refuges.

Williams has essentially served as acting director of the wildlife agency since Jan. 20, 2021, when she was named principal deputy director.

In an interview with the Helena Independent Record after her appointment as deputy, Williams identified climate change as the most challenging issue she expects to tackle, but pointed out that many conservation issues are interwoven with other societal issues.

Williams worked as an attorney for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks from 1998-2011, including on the state’s effort to take over management of wolves.

She spent two years as a solicitor at the Department of Interior before returning to teach at the University of Montana law school. Williams led Montana’s wildlife agency from 2017 through early 2021.

Two injured in Moses Lake hit-and-run collision Thursday

MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Two people were transported to Samaritan Hospital here after the car they were riding in was hit by a vehicle Thursday evening. That vehicle subsequently fled the scene.

Amelia Montes, 24, Othello, was waiting at the red light in the left turn lane at the intersection of state Route 17 and Kittelson Road Northeast when her car was hit in the rear, the WSP memo said. The collision occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

A press memo from the Washington State Patrol said the car that left the scene was found abandoned in Moses Lake.

The driver of that car fled the scene and has not been identified, according to the WSP memo. The Montes vehicle came to rest in the intersection of SR-17 and Kittelson Road Northeast.

Betsua Montes, 20, Othello, and Rafael Montes Sandoval, 57, Othello, were transported to Samaritan. A 19-month-old child in the Montes vehicle was not injured, but was transported to the hospital in a private vehicle as a precaution.

Man T-boned in intersection near Frederickson ran red light after fleeing police stop

Feb. 18—A 42-year-old man wanted by Pierce County deputies for allegedly violating domestic violence protection orders and stalking a person was T-boned Friday morning in an intersection near Frederickson after he fled from deputies.

The collision occurred at 152nd Street and Canyon Road East. Pierce County Sheriff’s Department tweeted about the incident at about 8:50 a.m. Deputies were helping to direct traffic while the right two lanes of southbound Canyon Road were blocked.

The 42-year-old ran a red light at the intersection and was struck by a man driving south on Canyon Road with his two children in a Ford F-150, deputies said. The man who ran the light was seriously injured and transported to a hospital. Deputies said the other man transported himself and his children to a doctor to be evaluated.

The incident started when a deputy pulled over the 42-year-old man driving a small pickup truck near 160th Street and 70th Avenue East while trying to arrest him, sheriff’s department spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss said. The man became agitated and fled.

Moss said the deputy did not pursue the man but followed him from a distance. The man drove north on 70th Avenue and turned onto 152nd Street East. Then, he ran the light and was struck.

Both vehicles were totaled. The frame of the smaller pickup’s bed was bent, and the larger pickup truck had major front-end damage.