A 13-year-old asleep in his Gresham apartment died on Sunday after being struck by a bullet fired in the apartment next door, police say.
Gresham Police said Sunday night that the boy was the victim in an early morning shooting at the Eleven Pines Apartment complex.
Officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning, they said in a news release. The shooting was inside an apartment, but “multiple rounds” went through the walls, police said. Police officers tried to help the boy hit in the apartment next door and first responders rushed him to a hospital, but he died of his wounds, the news release said.
Police found another person with a gunshot wound farther from the shooting scene, they said. That person was taken to the hospital with serious but nonfatal injuries.
Gresham police have not announced any arrests in connection with the shooting. The police have not identified the shooting victim at his family’s request.
Residents of the apartment complex told The Oregonian/OregonLive Sunday that it’s normally quiet along their tree-lined street where several families live with young children.
At the sound of the shots, Maria Ramirez said her husband pulled her and their 5-month-old baby to the floor. They gathered their 11-year-old and huddled in the bathroom, away from the windows and the sound of gunfire.
“It’s scary,” Ramirez said Sunday morning. “It was so close.”
Police ask anyone with additional information about the shooting to contact Detective Lindsay Friderich at Lindsay.Friderich@GreshamOregon.gov or Detective Martin Daly at Martin.Daly@GreshamOregon.gov.