The main incident that has raised Williams' concerns is the brutal assault that occurred on Sunday, August 16, in which a man assaulted another man by punching and kicking him repeatedly, which led to the victim becoming unconscious and needing to be rushed to the nearby hospital for medical treatment.
“While the circumstances leading up to this brutal assault are still under state and federal review, I must condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this depraved violence,” said Williams in a statement.
“We must all continue to work together to achieve peace in the streets of Portland. If we are not successful, I fear one day soon we will wake up to the news that a Portlander has been killed. We cannot let this happen.”
The victim, Adam Haner, was intervening in the harassment and assault of another individual when he was attacked by the rioters.
“He was trying to help and they called him a white supremacist, and then some Black lady smacked him and he got in his truck,” said Tammie Martin, Haner's girlfriend.
“This little group was not a protesting group,” continued Martin, who was herself physically assaulted during the incident. “They were just looking for a fight. They were trying to fight people driving by. They were just looking to fight somebody.”
According to Martin, Haner was released from the hospital on Monday and is spending some time at home recovering from his injuries. (Related: “Kill a cop, save a life:” Portland rioters chant and cheer for the MURDER of police officers.)
This is not the first time that Black Lives Matter rioters have targeted people in their vehicles, nor will it be the last. Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how a BLM assailant in Austin, Texas, shot at a vehicle and was subsequently killed when the driver returned fire in self defense.
Federal and state authorities tapped to investigate the incident
According to Williams, federal and state authorities are now investigating the circumstances regarding the attack on Haner and Martin – clips of which have since gone viral on social media.
According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), a manhunt is still ongoing to find and arrest the prime suspect, who was identified on Tuesday afternoon by PPB investigators as 25-year-old Marquis Love, also known by his alias “Kesse Love.” Love was first arrested in 2012 and has since had several other arrests on his record.
After the assault, he supposedly posted a message on Snapchat confirming that he participated in the assault. “Might go to jail for murder tonight for a racist when all I did was fight him. Look it up on Twitter, put money on my books and come see me,” said Love.
Love was also incorrectly identified as an employee of Star Protection Agency, a private security company, due to the fact that, after he was identified, people incorrectly believed him to still be a member of the company because he was wearing a black tactical vest that had the word “SECURITY” on the front.
In a press release, the company said that Love worked for them for three months, from January to March of this year, but has since been let go, and they have denounced any further association with him. The tactical vest is also not company property, as all issued equipment is returned to the company upon an employee's exit.
Former assistant US attorney says strong law enforcement necessary to end violence
Stephen Peifer is a retired assistant U.S. attorney and an expert at taking down domestic terrorist organizations, as he has handled cases concerning anarchist and eco-terrorist groups. In an interview with KGW, Peifer outlined how, in order to end the violence in Portland, it is very important for law enforcement to be “very strong and effective” at all levels. This is especially important since the demonstrations in Portland have become “much more violent and destructive.”
Peifer also said that local, state and federal law enforcement units need to be coordinating their responses in order to fight back against organized and violent groups with a broad, united front. Unfortunately, Peifer commented, that is not what is happening in Portland. This lack of assistance is severely handicapping the ability of law enforcement to do their duty and protect life and property.
Lastly, Peifer said that prosecutors need to act decisively in order to prevent any further criminal activity. “Deterrence is the only answer here, when it comes to violence.” Prosecutors should be pushing forward with cases that are easily provable. “Once the heat is on,” he said, “people begin to talk. They begin to give you more and more information” which can lead to more arrests and convictions.
When asked about his opinion regarding how prosecutors are currently handling the situation in Portland, Peifer said he believes that Williams is handling the situation correctly, but that the new district attorney for Multnomah County, Mike Schmidt, is not. Peifer criticized Schmidt because of the latter's refusal to move forward with cases for certain crimes. It “sends a message” that the DA's office is not taking its job seriously.
“You should be able to prosecute as many crimes as you can prove and once you decide not to do that, then you've basically told the organizers of this activity they can have carte blanche.”
The violence in Portland is only escalating, thanks to the fact that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are being encouraged by the lack of an effective response from local public officials. Learn about their latest criminal actions by reading the articles at, and subscribing to, Rioting.news.
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