Don't Shoot Portland Leaders Arrested Following Shooting at Last Thursday

WACO UP: Glenn Waco, a 22-year-old rapper from St. Johns, has become a leader in Portland police protests, including a Dec. 6 march on Pioneer Place. "The hardest thing is getting somebody to care," he says. "People need to disconnect from the Internet and connect back to real life."
By ANTHONY MACUK

Two activists who have led Portland protests of police violence were arrested last night in the aftermath of a shooting that injured three people at Last Thursday, the monthly Northeast Alberta Street fair.

Marcus Cooper and Loren Ware, who goes by the hip-hop name Glenn Waco, were both charged with four misdemeanors: interfering with an officer, first-degree disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest.

The two men, both leaders in the Don't Shoot Portland protest movement, both pleaded not guilty this afternoon. They tell The Oregonian they were aiding victims of the shooting shortly before their arrest.

Waco declined comment to media at the Justice Center, saying he'd only had two hours of sleep. On Twitter, he wrote: "I woke up with that kid's blood on me.....hipsters woke up with selfies in their phones."

Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Peter Simpson says Waco and Cooper were interfering with the police investigation of the crime scene.

"To be crystal clear: they were not arrested for aiding the victims," Simpson tells WW. "Their actions after that, and their interactions with the officers who were trying to get information and talk to the victims, is what led to their arrests."

WW profiled Waco in December as he rose to the forefront of Don't Shoot Portland, leading downtown marches protesting the police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.

The Oregonian wrote a profile of Cooper. 

Supporters of Waco and Cooper started to arrive about half an hour before the arraignment Friday afternoon. Most of them were young, and they stood around calmly in the small hallway space outside the courtroom door.

By the time the doors opened, the crowd had swelled to upwards of 50 people. The benches in the court filled up completely, with additional supporters lining the walls on both sides of the room. Despite the size of the crowd, the room remained quiet and calm throughout the proceedings.

Ware exited the courtroom along with his supporters and remained in the lobby for several minutes, recounting his version of the previous night's events to a small group of supporters while the majority of the crowd gradually dispersed.

WWeek 2015

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