The property damage and police response came after authorities arrested a man suspected of firing gunshots toward protesters during the weekend, when far-right extremists had come to downtown Portland to oppose the Black Lives Matter movement. Skylor Noel Jernigan, 27, was charged Wednesday with misdemeanor and felony counts after police executed a search warrant and found the gun allegedly used in Saturday’s shooting.
“Tensions are running high in our City and it is important for everyone to know PPB members are doing everything possible to prevent violence and criminal acts and investigate incidents that have already occurred,” Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said in a statement about the arrest.
Another violent incident on Sunday sparked widespread outcry, after people attacked a driver near a Black Lives Matter protest. Police on Tuesday identified a suspect in that incident, Marquise Love, 25, who allegedly kicked the driver in the head. Police have not yet announced any arrests in that case.
Wednesday’s protest followed another tense night on Tuesday, when protesters set small fires inside the Multnomah Building and were dispersed by baton-wielding police.
Early in the night on Wednesday, federal officers used pepper balls to push the crowd away from the federal building and moved the group down the street before retreating. Protesters then returned to the ICE building.
A small number of people threw rocks at the building’s windows, shattering some of them. Some people spray-painted slogans, including “Kill ICE,” on the building’s exterior walls. Someone tossed a traffic cone over a security camera, obscuring its view.
After police pushed the crowd back, a group of protesters started burning a mattress in the middle of the street several blocks away from the ICE building. People pulled wooden picnic tables from a nearby business and added them to the flames. The fire grew, burning the mattress to ashes and engulfing the wooden tables.
The crowd then returned to the ICE building once more and people shined bright lights through the windows to see the federal officers inside more clearly. Then, several riot vans loaded with police arrived, and officers rushed to make a line separating the protesters and the ICE building.
Officers used tear gas to drive the crowd back. After the gas was deployed, the crowd thinned significantly.