Shooting victim Billy Moore described as hard-working teen trying to support family; suspect in custody

View full sizeMaxine Bernstein/The OregonianA photograph of Billy Moore, 17, is posted on his home this morning.
Portland homicide detectives have arrested a 17-year-old male in connection with Monday’s night's fatal shooting of Billy Moore.
Moore was 17.
The suspect, who was not identified by police, is accused of murder and is being held at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center.
Moore died in gunfire near the Boys & Girls Club's New Columbia location in North Portland, the Portland Police Bureau reported.
Moore had been with relatives at his mother's bedside at OHSU Hospital earlier Monday night.
He was saying his final goodbye to his mom, Valerie Martinez, 44, who had leukemia and was on life support after suffering complications from a bone marrow transplant.
"We had just come to terms with the fact there was no chance she was going to improve," said Martinez's sister, Raquel Martinez.
Moore and Martinez' two teenage sons had left the hospital sometime after 6 p.m. and rode the bus back to Moore's house on North Woolsey Avenue.
They had gotten off the bus at North Trenton Street, and exchanged words with other young men.
"Some boys said something to Billy, and, in the state of mind he was in, said something back," Martinez said. Soon, as Moore and his cousins started walking back to his house, gunfire rang out.
Moore was able to run about a block and a half to his home. He ran through his house to the back yard and parking lot but he'd been struck. Blood gurgled from his mouth.
Neighbor Gabriel Hardy, who was in his backyard, held out his arms to Moore.
"He was just shaking his head," Hardy said. "He couldn't talk. I was like 'Be strong, Bill. Be strong.' I was holding his hand and praying."
His relatives keeping vigil by his mom's side at OHSU started getting calls in the ICU waiting room about 7:30 p.m.
"My nephew called and said, 'Did you hear about Bill?' He said, 'Bill got shot.' I said outloud, 'Bill got shot?' And all my family heard me," recalled Trina Simmons, Martinez's first cousin.
They all rushed to Legacy Emanuel Hospital, thinking Moore was taken there. When they realized he wasn't, they headed to the shooting scene.

"He was in the ambulance and he was already gone,'' Simmons said.
Moore's family returned to OHSU later Monday night, where they took Billy's mom off life support, and she died just after midnight.
She never learned of her son's shooting death. "She knows now because she's up there with him now," Simmons said.
"It just feels like unbelievable right now," Martinez said.
View full sizeMotoya Nakamura/The OregonianBilly Moore was Rosemary Anderson High School's prom king at the school's first prom.

At Rosemary Anderson High School, an alternative school in North Portland, Moore was remembered this morning as a hard-working teen who was trying to support his family. He graduated June 10 and planned to attend Portland Community College in the fall.
Bob Brandts, the school’s activities coordinator, said Moore had “zero gang affiliation.”
“He stayed away” from gangs, Brandts said. “He knew it wasn’t for him.”
“Billy Moore was just a great kid,” he said. “He was a kid who was trying to do his life right. He graduated from high school, got a job and was trying to help support his family.
“This just doesn’t make sense at all,” Brandts said.

Brandts said he saw Moore last Friday and gave the teen his senior photograph.
“He was so tickled about it because they came out so well,” he said.
Moore’s mother’s terminal illness took a toll on the teen.
“He was a kid who had to become a man pretty quick,” Brandts said. “He shouldered it all. He was always optimistic but you could tell it was wearing on him.”
Moore enrolled at Rosemary Anderson as a sophomore in 2008. His older sister, Renee, also attends the school’s general education program.
Moore was well known at the school and just last month was named prom king at the school’s first prom. He worked at The Salvation Army.
Police Chief Mike Reese, who responded to the scene, said he was worried that this and two other recent shootings in North Portland might represent a disturbing trend.
"I'm very concerned about our second shooting in New Columbia in a week and our second homicide in a week," Reese said.

Later today, the police chief and mayor planned to hold a news conference to announce enhanced patrols in the area following Moore's shooting and other recent violence in and around New Columbia.
View full sizeMaxine Bernstein/The OregonianWorkers fix a bullet hole that pierced a window of the Regence Boys & Girls Club off North Woolsey Avenue.
Police found 40-year-old Decoal Crawford lying dead on the sidewalk at North Albina Avenue and Jessup Street late Friday. Last Wednesday, Reese said officers responded to the shooting of a 16-year-old boy near the area of tonight's shooting.

"Something's going on, so we've got to find out what," Reese said.

I Will Miss You Billy! I Love You Boy!
Asa Pritchard