Skip to main content
Today over on The Trace, there is an interactive map where you can enter your address, or just let your smart computer or phone locate you, and see how many people were shot in your vicinity this year.
The map is derived from data taken from the Gun Violence Archive and, according to The Trace, "the map contains 30,284 incidents recorded by the Gun Violence Archive from December 5, 2014 to December 5, 2015."
Recently, and for a long time actually, a lot of attention has been paid to mass killings like the shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino earlier this month and the one at Umpqua Community College in October, where 10 died.
But the death toll from daily gun violence ends up being much higher than that of those large-scale, news cycle-worthy events. The Trace reports:
The interactive map is a good tool to see how that looks in your own neighborhood. Red markers indicate a fatal shooting, and yellow indicate a non-fatal shooting. Green circles indicate clusters.
There was a shooting just last month a few blocks away from our office—at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital, where, on Nov. 6, 2015, a 51-year-old man named Michael Gregory Johnson was shot by police. According to the incident report on the Trace site: "Suicidal man fired shots in ground, then at police, who returned fire, killing subject. Medical examiner ruled the death a suicide."
But Northwest Portland is—perhaps unsurprisingly—one of those areas least hit by gun violence, even though its population is relatively dense. Some neighborhoods look like they've been harder hit by gun violence than others. Here's the map of Powellhurst, near Southeast Powell Boulevard and 122nd Avenue:
And North Williams:
Here's the link to the map for the entire country. Put in your address. You might be surprised by what you find out.
Willamette Week