Three men were just indicted for the 2014 murder of Ervaeua Herring, the Portland Police Bureau announced this morning. DeAnthony Simmons, 21, Demetrius Brown, 22, and Geontae Jones, 22, were each indicted for murder, burglary, and unlawful use of a weapon.
Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirsten Snowden told the Mercury a few week's ago that the murder of Herring, who was a mother and pregnant, was one of two incidents that led to a spike in gang violence. Here's what we reported on April 13:
"We have a lot of guns in the hands of mostly young offenders," said Kirsten Snowden, a Multnomah County chief deputy district attorney, at a recent meeting of law enforcement officials aimed at stemming the violence. "Within that group, we have a much smaller group that are actually pulling the trigger, and they're doing it repeatedly."
Snowden said at the time that recent rounds of shootings can be linked to fallout from "a couple of gang-related homicides that have really sparked tensions and flare-ups in the community."
She tells the Mercury she was specifically referring to the November 2013 murder of Durieul Harris outside of the Fontaine Bleau Nightclub, and the brutal unsolved 2014 murder of Ervaeua Herring at her East Portland apartment.
Harris was affiliated with the Woodlawn Park Bloods, Snowden says. Xavier Bolden, who's affiliated with a gang called the Hoovers, is awaiting trial for Harris' murder.
"It's my understanding that prior to the shooting, there were a lot of Woodlawn associates hanging out with Hoovers," she says. "They were on good terms, these two groups. And because of this, it really divided them."
The murder of Herring, who was pregnant and had a one-year-old son, also created tension. Snowden says Herring wasn't personally connected to any gangs, but had relatives in the Woodlawn Park Bloods.
Snowden says it's more than idle speculation tying the recent violence to these killings. They are "recurring themes" among folks who find themselves in police custody.
Simmons was previously arrested for what police called a gang-related shooting in 2014. Brown was also indicted in 2014 for a shooting death. Geontae Jones was indicted last year for a gang-related shooting.
