The city of Salem and local law enforcement want to learn more about how gun violence impacts Salem’s homeless community.
They’ll be the focus of Salem’s next public forum on gun violence, along with Salem families. The gathering will be Friday, July 19, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Catholic Community Services, 3737 Portland Rd. N.E. The free event will include snacks, refreshments and children’s activities.
It’s the third public forum on gun violence the city has hosted since launching its Community Violence Reduction Initiative, and facilitator Ben McBride said he hopes to hear personal experiences that go beyond what was captured in the Salem Police Department’s fall report on shootings.
According to the report, homeless people made up less than 3% of the city’s 59 shooting victims from 2018 to 2020 but nearly 20% of the 91 victims between 2021 and 2023. There was no significant increase in the share of homeless people considered suspects in gun crimes.
“Friday’s event is really about doing some deeper listening into some segments of the community to figure out: what is the report missing?” McBride said.
The meetings are part of a joint effort by Salem-area law enforcement agencies to scale back escalating deadly violence in the capital city with the help of community organizations. As part of the effort, the Salem Police Department and Marion County Sheriff’s Office plan to combine efforts to increase check-ins with people on parole or probation about their housing and shelter needs, and add officers to patrol highly impacted areas.
Earlier this year, one man was killed and another injured in an April 4 shooting in the Wallace Marine Park encampment. Witnesses told police the gunman, who had a home in northeast Salem, accused homeless residents of stealing a bag of weapons from him while he slept on the riverbank.
McBride said that, in the last two public forums, community members showed an interest in taking a deeper dive into the impact of gun violence on families and unsheltered people.
Community partners for the discussion include the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, Church at the Park, Salem Leadership Foundation, Willamette Health Council and Salem-Keizer Public Schools.
Past discussions have included a presentation followed by audience questions and small group discussions.
The next public gun violence discussion, on July 31 at Chemeketa Community College, will be conducted in Spanish with translation to English. Another discussion will be in English at Salem Alliance Church on Aug. 22, and will include neighborhood organizations, community faith organizations and other local institutions. The English events, including on Friday, will have live translation to Spanish.
“What we found with a lot of the evidence-based strategies is that (community violence reduction) strategies work best when you have kind of your values-based communities rooted in the strategy,” McBride said, citing models in Oakland and Chicago.
The community’s stories and questions will contribute to a report that McBride’s firm will compile and present to the city council in November.
McBride said that organizers hope Friday’s will help participants feel more connected to the Salem-Keizer community, even if they aren’t unsheltered or part of a family.
“The hopes are to really have engagement from community members that are either experiencing the impacts of community violence, or have anxiety about the potentials of community violence,” he said.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.