Two of the three people who were shot and killed in a North Portland neighborhood over the weekend were students in Portland Public Schools, the district said in a message to district families Tuesday.
The district identified Eskender Tamra, a junior at Franklin High School, and Isaac Daudi, who was a student at Roosevelt High School and attended Franklin during the 2021-2022 school year, as those who died.
The shooting happened just after noon Saturday at University Park.
"PPS extends our deepest, most heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and will respect their desire to mourn in privacy," the district said. "We recognize the enormous toll that gun violence has taken on the city of Portland, and we will continue to work alongside the city, county, and state leaders to find impactful solutions to this problem. "
Police have not released any information about suspects or arrests.
On Tuesday night, police identified the third victim as 20-year-old Patrick D. Johnson Jr. of Portland.
Grief counselors will be on hand for students April 3, the first day back from spring break.
Police said the three people who died were shot inside a car on North Foss Avenue near North Foss Court on Saturday at around 12:30 p.m.
Neighbors told KATU that they heard dozens of gunshots.
"Three young people have passed away and one time was just heartbreaking," said Lionel Irving, with Love Is Stronger, who works with youth and teenagers in the community to reduce gun violence. "When you pull a gun out on somebody, you pull that trigger, there's no going back; there's no sorry for what happened. And now you know that you ruin your life. You ruined a lineage of somebodies."
He urges parents to be the first ones to educate their kids about guns.
"Parents, don't let your kid receive a gun or touch a gun for the first time by getting it for one of his friends. It's a right to have them. So we need to be teaching our kids, you know, the responsibilities around them," he said.
And he wants to remind young people that their voice has power.
"Silence is violence, right? You've got to speak up. No. To your friends. You know, you got to make sure that your friends are making good decisions. And if you see one of your friends struggling and hanging out with the wrong guys, you got to hold them accountable. Peer pressure go towards negative peer pressure. There's also a lot of power and positive peer pressure."