A Fairview man has been charged in connection with a shooting that forced the partial closure of the light-rail station at TriMet’s Gateway Transit Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Police were called at 3:17 p.m. when a shot was fired at the transit center.Officers found a 69-year-old man with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his left thumb. The injury was not life threatening, police said.
“At the time that we contacted the victim, he appeared to be somewhat intoxicated and very uncooperative,” said Portland Police Officer Catherine Kent. “Luckily, a TriMet supervisor happened to see a person the victim had been talking to prior to him being shot and was able to give us a pretty good description.”
Police were able to catch up to 71-year-old John Hutchens of Fairview at the Ruby Junction/East 197th Avenue MAX Station in Gresham and take him into custody.
He was arrested and charged with one count of Assault in the Second Degree. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from Hutchens, police said.
The victim remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
It does not appear that the victim and suspect know each other.
The incident forced TriMet to close the eastbound MAX platform at the Gateway Transit Center, but all trains were moving again by 5 p.m.
KPAM 860 contributed to this report
