Erik Salvador Ayala, 24, left a note for his Milwaukie
roommate in an envelope marked “open on Sunday” before driving to
Portland last Saturday night, January 24, and allegedly shooting nine
people at SW 2nd and Pine, before turning the gun on himself.
The note was accompanied by a check to Ayala’s roommate and with
information on his bank accounts and Social Security number, along with
suggestions to sell his car and PlayStation 3, and to keep the
money.
“Good luck in this shitty world,” the note concluded.
Ayala’s roommate and friends have since described him as depressed,
according to detectives, but there is still no indication of a motive
for the shooting, which left 16-year-old Portlander Ashley Wilks and
17-year-old Martha “Tika” Paz de Noboa, of Peru, dead. Seven other
victims, many of whom were part of a Rotary International exchange
program from as far away as Italy, France, Ecuador, and Taiwan were
treated at area hospitals.
Ayala, too, was initially thought to be dead in the street,
according to Detective Mark Slater, who added that a 9mm semi-automatic
Tanfoglio gun was retrieved along with seven shell casings from the
scene. Detectives think bullets passed through some of the victims,
before hitting others. In critical condition, Ayala died on Tuesday,
January 27, in a local hospital.
The Oregonian prompted controversy on Monday, January 26,
when it reported that “one of the things that bought Ayala joy” was
playing violent videogames. Slater said a copy of the videogame
Grand Theft Auto III was found at Ayala’s apartment, but said
police were not pursuing a link between videogames and the
shooting.
“There were a lot of videogames in the apartment,” said Slater. “Of
a wide variety of the kind you might find in any 24-year-old’s
apartment.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 20 years of law
enforcement,” said Central Precinct Commander Mike Reese on Monday,
when asked to describe the scene of the shooting when he arrived.
“I think it’s extraordinary that this many people can be shot in
Portland, Oregon,” said Police Chief Rosie Sizer, at a press conference
on Sunday, January 25. “The randomness as well as the
scale—that’s outside anything we’ve known [here] in the
past.”
I just don’t know, my dear sweet Lord the world has either gone obviously crazy? or the Devil knows that his time is truly short?
we just recently had something quite similar to that happened here in Flint MI. a devoted husband and loving father just up and murdered his wife and kids. than like following some twisted movie script, he turned the murder weapon on himself. apparently he was drowning financially before taking these drastic measures, to escape all his debt
naturally, it’s easy to just blame violent acts like these on video games, movies, and even the music that one listens too. however, i would be more concerned with the spiritual aspects of the person who commits these atrocities. what sinister force is in control of these people? for heaven’s sake this same murder suicide scenario is carried out every few days across our blessed country. and i don’t think it’s going to just simply go away anytime soon…
To be honest, I think the original articles were fairly done. They weren’t “blaming” anything but rather describing Eric. The could have easily described a guy who like shoving his nose in books 24/7, playing basketball all the time, or reading an unmodified religious text for hours on end.
I did see certain agenda seeking twits on other sites who wanted to influence the investigation to support their personal, religious, and/or political beliefs. But these individuals are nothing more than delusional, Tin-Pot-Dictator-Wannabes who would even claim that a kid playing a violent video game is worse than the same kid having been verbally, mentally, physically, and nearly sexually abused by their “Parent”.
I think the police should, and most likely ARE, doing a THOROUGH job of investigating this act. NO stone left unturned and NO scapegoating just because you’re too lazy to do your job or just want to use the tragedies of others to force your personal, religious, and/or political beliefs on others.
At times, there is simply no logical, from our point of view, reason for someone to take their own life, let alone take the lives of others in additiona to their own.
I urge the authorities to continue to investigate thoroughly, properly, honorably, and ethically and let NO ONE, not me nor ANY other individual, organization, or government agency, interfer with your investigation OR tamper with evidence or witnesses just to push agendas.
Andrew Rhodes
Wilmington, NC
I did find it rather interesting that many news reports, including the Origonian, would mention “Grand Theft Auto” by name. Many eating too many tweenkies made him do it.
That defense worked for Daniel James White.
I noticed that too DamosA, the MSM just can’t let a chance go by to blame a violent act on either Grand Theft Auto or Pitbulls.