Tag gun violence

Salem gang member gets 17 years for shooting death of 15-year-old boy
Gage Clark Adkins, 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for shooting and killing 15-year-old Matthew Newman in November 2023. Clark Adkins was on juvenile parole at the time of the shooting, a theme prosecutors say is increasingly common in Marion County.

Salem man gets 15 years for 2022 shooting death of man at Geer Park
Thomas Healy, 59, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter of 35-year-old Scott “Scotty” Tanner in a parking lot where they both slept. Tanner’s widow, Debby Clark, still wonders what prompted Healy to start the fight that led to her husband’s death.

Takeaways: Report finds shootings tripled in Marion County over 10 years
A review commissioned A recent report released Tuesday by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office found that one in three shootings across the county over a decade involved gang members as victims, suspects or both. The involvement of teenagers in gun violence skyrocketed during that period.

Salem’s violent crime rate hit 15-year-high in 2024, report shows, as property crime declined
The number of violent crimes reported in Salem has nearly doubled since 2010. The city last year recorded its highest number of sexual and aggravated assaults in 15 years.

Marion County public safety officials plan new team to address rising gang, youth violence
A review commissioned by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office found that shootings outside Salem city limits more than tripled over the last decade. The county’s public safety officials now hope to convene a multi-agency team to tackle skyrocketing gang and youth involvement in gun violence.

Salem man charged with dealing fentanyl after police search in NE Salem
Police investigating a shooting at an apartment complex on Northeast Market Street found two guns and fentanyl containing 188,000 lethal doses on Feb. 20, according to a detective’s affidavit. Gerardo Parra-Valdez was charged on Tuesday with trafficking the drugs.

Marion County officials quiet on findings of delayed gun violence research
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office last March hired researchers to analyze shootings throughout the county and planned to release a report by late summer. After months of delays, the agency won’t say when it will publicly share its findings.

Boy, 17, accused of shooting man in NE Salem on Feb. 3
A teenager was arrested Wednesday and accused of an early morning shooting a month earlier near Swegle Elementary School that left a 20-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds.

Man killed by trooper slipped threatening note to guard at Salem’s Army training center, police say
Matthew Wong, armed with a knife, appeared for the second time in three days at a U.S. Army airfield in southeast Salem and slipped a threatening note to a guard, according to the Marion County District Attorney's Office. That prompted a confrontation with a state trooper who shot and killed him.