Portland cops clear out of open-air drug market in city's downtown

The Last of Us… Portland edition: Armed cops clear out vacant shopping mall turned into open air drug market – in eerie scenes reminiscent of HBO’s dystopian drama

• Dozens of local police moved in on the vacant retail development Wednesday 
• Police have been running round-the-clock patrols at the building since last week 
• Some residents were convinced a murder had been committed there 

Police in Portland spent this past week clearing out a vacant shopping center in the city’s deserted downtown in what was described as a scene from the dystopian HBO show The Last of Us.

The building had been turned into an open-air drug market.

Dozens of local police moved in on the vacant retail development Wednesday at around 7:30 a.m. by blocking the surrounding area and stretching out crime scene tape well down the block. 

An officer said that while they didn’t find squatters, there had been people holing up in there in the days before. Police have been running round-the-clock patrols at the building since last Friday.

The city’s Central Bike Squad showed officers using battering rams to break down doors and access locked rooms in the building, which city officials called ‘in crisis mode.’

Mayor Ted Wheeler said later that evening: ‘The city is confident that the building site is empty of trespassers. There were no immediate threats during this process.’ 

Police in Portland spent this past week clearing out Washington Center in what was described as a scene from the dystopian HBO show The Last of Us, clearing out what many saw turn into an open-air drug market

Building owner Barry Menashe is working with contractors and the police to completely board it up and try to get rid of what The Oregonian called ‘rampant drug trafficking.’ 

The city has been working on a plan to secure the building with Menashe and his daughter Lauren, his real estate company’s principal. 

Menashe has, in the past, offered to simply let the city use it as a homeless shelter but they’ve yet to determine an official purpose. Wheeler said that ‘would likely require substantial retooling prior to future use.’

Eric Zimmerman, the city’s central policy advisor, would rather the property be boarded up than continue to serve as a drug house.

‘We’ve given them the go-ahead and said, ‘If you want to line up 90-degree corners and box the whole thing out, we would be very supportive of that,’ Zimmerman said. ‘Even it required that we’d give up the sidewalks — whatever it takes to secure it.’ 

People passing by the property simply told Zimmerman ‘good’ and finally!’ in response to hearing what had happened. Many assumed there’d been a murder.

Conservative journalist Andy Ngo openly suggested the building looked like a scene from the HBO video game adaptation The Last of Us. 

It’s unclear where the building will be put to use in the future because people are waiting to see what happens after the police fully secure it. 

Dozens of local police moved in on the vacant retail development Wednesday at around 7:30 a.m. by blocking the surrounding area and stretching out crime scene tape well down the block

Dozens of local police moved in on the vacant retail development Wednesday at around 7:30 a.m. by blocking the surrounding area and stretching out crime scene tape well down the block

An officer said that while they didn’t find squatters, there had been people holing up in there in the days before

Police have been running round-the-clock patrols at the building since last Friday

The city’s Central Bike Squad showed officers using battering rams to break down doors and access locked rooms in the building, which city officials called ‘in crisis mode’

Mayor Ted Wheeler said hours after the raid: ‘The city is confident that the building site is empty of trespassers. There were no immediate threats during this process’

An officer said that while they didn’t find squatters, there had been people holing up in there in the days before. Police have been running round-the-clock patrols at the building since last Friday

 People passing by the property simply told Zimmerman ‘good’ and finally!’ in response to hearing what had happened. Many assumed there’d been a murder

The city’s Central Bike Squad showed officers using battering rams to break down doors and access locked rooms in the building, which city officials called ‘in crisis mode.’

Mayor Ted Wheeler said later that evening: ‘The city is confident that the building site is empty of trespassers. There were no immediate threats during this process.’

‘The appetite to be visionary or try out new ideas is a little bit subdued until we can stop the bleeding,’ Zimmerman said of potential owners for the building in the future. ‘We’re just trying to be measured, to not put too many carts before the horse.’ 

The Democratic city has one of the most deserted downtowns in the United States, with soaring crime rates and homelessness scaring away both locals and tourists. 

In 2021, there were 90 homicides amid a surge in gun violence, which shattered city’s previous record high of 66 set more than three decades ago. 

There were 101 murders recorded in 2022 – a new record for the city.

Portland currently has more than 700 homeless encampments across the city within less than 150 square miles.

Some of the most charming, trendy and expensive neighborhoods of the Pacific Northwest city are now overrun with tent cities crowding residential sidewalks and littered with trash. 

Portland currently has more than 700 homeless encampments across the city within less than 150 square miles, and the ordeal has also led to skyrocketing crime in the area

Some of the most charming, trendy and expensive neighborhoods of the Pacific Northwest city are now overrun with tent cities crowding residential sidewalks and littered with trash – and the issue is scaring away both locals and tourists

Portland City Council rushed to return funds to the police in November 2021 after defunding them by more than $15 million in 2020. Officials instead voted to add $5.4 million to the force’s budget.

When the police was defunded in 2020, the Portland Police Bureau suffered a rush of retirements and resignations. 

Portland saw a dramatic increase in shootings and murders after George Floyd’s Minneapolis death. 

The city saw a 250 percent increase in murders within the first six months of Floyd’s death and shootings rose almost 175 per cent.

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