PUBLIC SAFETY

Teen charged with shooting at car in northeast Salem Monday

A 16-year-old boy opened gunfire on a car with passengers on a northeast Salem street Monday evening before running to nearby apartments, the Salem Police Department said in a news release.

One man later arrived at a hospital with gunshot wound, police said.

“He reported to officers that he was an occupant in the vehicle involved in the shooting incident,” the police said, describing the victim as an adult.

Salem police said in a statement that around 5:15 p.m. on Monday, April 10, officers responded to a report of gunfire near Center Street and Northeast Hawthorne Avenue.

Witnesses reported a teen boy walking along Hawthorne Avenue had stopped to speak with those in a car, which had pulled over near him.

“The young man then pulled out a gun and began to fire at the occupants in the car and then ran to a nearby apartment complex,” according to the statement.

Officers found the teen and recovered what the statement said was the the handgun used in the shooting.

A passerby in the area at the time reported that the gunfire struck their vehicle.

Around two hours after the shooting, a man arrived at Salem Hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot “to an extremity,” the statement said.

Police arrested the teen and booked him into the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, reckless endangering, first-degree theft and second-degree criminal mischief.

The charges allege the teen stole the handgun used in the shooting, and the criminal mischief charge is related to the shots he fired striking a passing motorist’s vehicle, according to Angela Hedrick, Salem police spokeswoman.

The department said it couldn’t provide the number of juvenile arrests since January without a public records request.

The statement said the agency does not identify minors involved in criminal investigations. Juvenile court records are generally confidential under state law.

This story was updated after the Salem Police Department provided additional information.

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.