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Killers sentenced for 2020 slaying in SE Portland

A judge's gavel is shown in a file photo. (Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Slightly more than 2 years after an early morning homicide in Southeast Portland, the men who killed De’Andre D. Rouse were sentenced.

On January 4, 2020, Rouse was shot to death in the area of SE Stark Street and 151st Avenue. Multiple shell casings from both .9mm and .40 caliber bullets were found at the scene.

Not long after, Christopher J. Watkins and Timothy E. Burks, who were 19 and 20 at the time, were arrested and charged with 2nd-degree murder.

How it began

Around 5 a.m. that day, police were already in the area on a different call when they heard the gunfire. An officer spotted a car with 2 people inside speeding away from the scene.

Christopher Watkins is charged with the murder of De’Andre Rouse on January 4, 2020 (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office/KOIN)

More officers joined the search after getting tips that people were hiding in the area of NE 124th and Halsey and one of them was “bleeding heavily.”

Burks was wounded in the arm.

Watkins was arrested about an hour after the shooting around NE 102nd and Sacramento. Court documents showed his girlfriend used a “rideshare application” to get him a ride to that area.

How it ended

Court documents obtained by KOIN 6 News show both Watkins and Burks were recently sentenced.

Watkins was sentenced January 14, 2022 for first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. He will serve at least 10 years of a 15-year sentence.

Burks was sentenced December 17, 2021, also for first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. He was sentenced to 8 years.