Downtown shooting

• Profile of suspect

• Profiles of victims

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Portland police offer shooting update

• Saturday night story: 2 dead, 7 hurt in downtown Portland shooting

• Principal's letter: Read Clackamas High principal's letter home to parents about student victims

Investigators say they don't know what led a 24-year-old Milwaukie man to allegedly fire on a crowd outside a popular underage downtown Portland nightclub Saturday night, killing two teenage girls in a Rotary Club exchange program and wounding seven others in what authorities say is the worst mass shooting in the city's history.

Police Chief Rosie Sizer called the shooting "a random act of violence of the kind that makes you despair for America."Rotary International officials said they couldn't remember any incident in the exchange program's history that matched the level of violence inflicted on the group of foreign students Saturday night. They called it a "tragic irony" that such a thing could happen to students who come to this country to foster world understanding and peace.

"I can't recall anything comparable to this at all," said Wayne Hearn, a spokesman for Rotary International North America. "The kids look at this as an experience of a lifetime. Something like this is an aberration."

Ashley Lauren Wilks, a 16-year-old Clackamas High School sophomore who was set to spend her junior year in France or Spain, died at the scene. Marta Paz De Novoa, 17, from Arequipa, Peru, who was living with a host family in White Salmon, Wash., died at OHSU Hospital. Another exchange student was in critical condition.

The gunman, identified as Erik Salvador Ayala of Milwaukie, put the gun to his own head after shooting nine people. He was in critical condition at Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

Suspect called quiet, video game fan

Erik Salvador Ayala was a quiet man with an interest in computers and video games, not guns or nightclubs, his friend and roommate said Sunday.

Ayala's mysterious appearance and alleged shooting spree outside a downtown Portland club Saturday night shocked and mystified his friends, said Mike Delisle, Ayala's roommate.

He said he had no idea why his roommate went downtown Saturday night and he doesn't think Ayala knew any of the victims.

"It was a big surprise. I didn't see it coming," said Delisle, who attended Keizer's McNary High School with Ayala. "He was a quiet person. He kept to himself."

Ayala did not frequent dance clubs, such as The Zone, Delisle said. Ayala was not a violent person, did not own a gun and never showed an interest in firearms, he said.

Ayala had worked for the state of Oregon as a contract employee about two years ago. Since then he has worked for temporary employment agencies, Delisle said.

In high school, Ayala was in the McNary band and was a bit of a practical joker. He kept to himself and was hesitant to show his emotions, Delisle said.

One of the things that brought him joy was playing video games such as "Resistance: Fall of Man," in which an Army Ranger fights an alien race that is trying to take over the world, or "Left 4 Dead," where the object is to slay fighting zombies.

Half a dozen criminalists converged on a Milwaukie apartment Sunday afternoon to shoot video, take still photographs and examine Ayala's home.

The apartment is among 18 in four buildings that make up a small complex on Southeast 32nd Avenue.

The police said Sunday evening that Ayala, 24, was the man who shot nine people Saturday night. He shot himself afterward and was in critical condition Sunday night.

Earlier on Sunday, a police video photographer went alone into the small apartment for more than 30 minutes, then the other forensic officers, pulling on rubber gloves, entered as well.

Ayala's neighbors said the complex draws students and other short-term tenants who generally don't speak anything more than pleasantries to each other.

Esther Ramirez, 24, who moved into the apartment directly above Ayala's eight months ago, said she had seen a woman who appeared to be Ayala's girlfriend coming out of Ayala's apartment; she said she thinks the girlfriend is deaf because Ayala communicated with her with American Sign Language.

Jake Moreland, 15, and his mother, Renee, 48, live in an apartment directly across a small courtyard from Ayala. Renee Moreland said she saw police officers around the Ayala building well into Sunday morning; she said she was stunned to know the possible reasons for the police interest.

"He was really quiet," she said. "I just can't believe this is happening."

Records show that Erik Salvador Ayala once lived in Keizer at the same address as Salvador and Mildred Ayala in a one-story, ranch-style home in a working-class neighborhood.

No one answered the door at the white house with blue trim Sunday afternoon. There was a car and a pickup in the driveway.

Neighbors say the Ayalas are a nice family, willing to help out if they can. They are quiet, no complaints, said Sidney Mosley, who lives next door. Mosley has lived in the neighborhood for two years and said the Ayalas were there when she moved in.

Mosley said she knows the mom doesn't speak a lot of English. There is a girl who goes to high school and boys living there, though Mosley doesn't know how many boys or their names. She thinks one of the boys works for Target.

Told that one of the sons may have been involved in a shooting in Portland, she said: "I wouldn't have thought anything like that."

A neighbor across the street said she found it "incredibly hard to believe" that one of the boys from the Ayala family would be involved. The neighbor did not want to be named and was not willing to give information other than to confirm that Salvador and Mildred Ayala lived across from her. She said the Ayala kids have helped her out when her car was broken and also helped her with her computer.

-- Steve Mayes, Anne Saker and Michelle Cole

Police located a car registered to Ayala on the east side of Southwest Fourth Avenue, across from the Multnomah County courthouse. Half a dozen police also converged on Ayala's Milwaukie apartment on Southeast 32nd Avenue on Sunday afternoon to search for clues.

The teens were among a group of 11 students from the Rotary District 5100 Youth Exchange program on a social outing organized by a host parent to celebrate a Guatemalan student's birthday. The exchange students came from France, Italy, Ecuador, Guatemala and Taiwan and were being hosted by families in Oregon and Washington. Besides the two students killed, four other exchange students in the group were wounded.

"Apparently, they all felt the place they were going to go (The Zone nightclub) was well-established and a very reputable place," said Chuck Itoh, chairman of the student exchange program.

By Sunday afternoon, parents of at least two of the foreign students wounded were en route to Oregon, while the Rotary Club was working to arrange housing and counseling for the students and host families.

Sizer extended her sympathies to the victim's families. "I think what we all want now is answers. We are working to get those. ... It's the randomness as well as the scale that is outside of anything that we know of in the past."

Rotary Club members, host families and school officials in at least two different states and families worldwide were devastated, struggling to understand how a celebratory night out could have turned so tragic.

"It's deeply saddening for us. One of our top priorities is always the safety and well-being of the youth exchange participants," said Scott Bieber, youth protection officer for Rotary District 5100, which encompasses northern Oregon and southwestern Washington. "When something like this happens, it hurts us all, it saddens us all. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased and the injured students."

Police say they haven't found any connection between Ayala, who fired at least eight to 10 rounds outside The Zone on Southwest Second Avenue before shooting himself in the head, and the group of exchange students, who were waiting outside to get into the club. Court records show Ayala had no criminal record in Oregon other than a speeding ticket in 2004.

A teenage performer at The Zone, 16-year-old Jalontae Howard, who was outside the club, was shot in the ankle. The general manager of the nearby Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, Brad Yoast, was shot in the stomach, possibly by a bullet that ricocheted, and had surgery overnight.

Never inside club

Police said the gunman walked to the Southwest Second Avenue block outside The Zone and started firing. They didn't believe he was ever inside the club, and they didn't know of any relationship between him and any of the victims.

William Kennedy, 17, with Team Promotions, was inside The Zone, talking beside the bar near the front entrance when suddenly he heard, "pow, pow, pow, pow." He said he ducked under a bar ledge, and when the gunfire subsided, he looked out front. "I just see two girls down, laying outside. Two pairs of feet by the front doorway," Kennedy said. "They had just been waiting outside on line to get in."

He said he saw the club's DJ outside administering CPR on one of the victims. Kennedy said he heard at least five gunshots above the hip-hop music blaring inside.

"That's scary stuff," said Kennedy, as he dragged nervously on a cigarette outside the club shortly after the shootings.

David Little and his son Bryan of Gold Beach were at Kells after the Trail Blazers game Saturday night. "We heard 'pop, pop, pop, pop and bam ...," David Little said, thinking that the "bam" sound might have been the bouncer's lectern falling to the ground outside.

He looked outside and said he saw a young man injured, likely the shooter. "The young man was crouched down between two cars just outside Kells," David Little said. He said Kells' bouncer shoved people inside the door of the bar.

Dominique Howard, 19, was in The Zone at the time of the shootings. He posted a MySpace bulletin asking for prayers for his brother, Jalontae, 16, a Centennial High School student. : "i witnessed 2 girls get killed my head is going crazy im bugging out."

John Plew, an owner of The Zone, was at the Blazers game with fellow owner Dan Lenzen when he heard about the shootings. Plew said the club provides a safe place for kids to go and dance and called it a horrible, random event.

Jeff Vaudt, who lives in an apartment nearby, was watching a movie at home when he said he heard at least eight to 10 shots. "It just had to be a good-sized gun, just by the sound of it. They were deep, deep sounds."

Customer screams

Viyarda Marson, a waitress at the E-San Thai Cuisine across the street from The Zone, said diners heard the shootings. One customer stood up, screaming that she just saw a man shoot himself. Marson said she saw the gunman fall to the ground.

At least one member of a wedding party that was being held above Kells later clamored for information from police officers about what had just occurred.

Matt Utterback, Clackamas High School principal, said at least five of the school's students, including Wilks and an 18-year-old critically injured Italian exchange student, Susy De Sousa, were at the club Saturday night.

He called Wilks an honors student who competed on the swim team and De Sousa a friendly spirit with a good sense of humor.

"This random act of violence has cut short a young life and threatened another," Utterback said, referring to the two Clackamas High students. "Such a horrific act is impossible to accept or understand."

The Rotary District 5100 Youth Exchange committee met for three hours Sunday afternoon. Members were focused on supporting students, host families and the parents of the deceased and wounded children.

Duane Vaubel, vice chair of the committee, called it an "extreme tragedy."

"It should not have happened. It's an unavoidable situation from our standpoint," Vaubel said.

The Rotary youth exchange organizers suspect the program might falter in the wake of the violence but remained committed to its future.

"I don't think you can have a tragedy of this magnitude without having a certain amount of impact," Bieber said. "We're going to work as hard as we can to minimize any negative effect it might have on the program because Rotary believes wholeheartedly in its commitment to advance world understanding, good will and peace. We feel strongly that this exchange program does that."

Though Central Precinct police have five officers and a sergeant dedicated to the downtown entertainment district, chief Sizer said it's impossible to develop a patrol strategy for "something that is so unexpected, so random and so violent."

-- Noelle Crombie, Elizabeth Suh, Steve Mayes, Lynne Palombo, Suzanne Pardington, Amy Hsuan and Yuxing Zheng contributed to this report

Profiles of the shooting victims

Victims of Saturday night's shooting include six foreign Rotary Exchange students and three Americans. Three other exchange students attending Clackamas High School were with the group at the Zone but were not hit by gunfire.



Ashley Wilks, 16, a sophomore at Clackamas High School, who was killed Saturday, was planning to spend her junior year in France. Neighbors of the Wilks family said Ashley was a straight-A student who was planning to go on an exchange trip to France next year. The girl was close to her older brother, Justin, who also attends Clackamas High. The family moved to Happy Valley from Colorado a couple of years ago and likes to go skiing and rafting. "I can't believe it, of all the people, so much promise," said a neighbor who asked that his name not be used. "She was like the ideal daughter."



A 17-year-old girl from Arequipa, Peru, who was killed, has been hosted since September by a family in White Salmon, Wash. Janet McCutcheon, principal of Columbia High School in White Salmon, said she was a nice girl but quiet. She was kind of shy because she had not quite mastered English and worried about making mistakes when she spoke. McCutcheon said she believed that she had completed her schooling in Peru before coming to White Salmon but was listed as a junior at the high school, as are all foreign exchange students. She went through the Portland Rotary Exchange program. The school has an exchange student from White Salmon in the girl's hometown in Peru.



Brad Yoast, 44, general manager of Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, was talking to security just outside the restaurant when he was shot in the stomach, possibly by a ricochet. Lucille McAleese, owner of Kells, said he had surgery overnight. She said he is expected to make a complete recovery.



Jalontae Howard, 16, was recovering Sunday night after being shot in the right ankle. Howard is a junior at Centennial High School and an accomplished dancer. He and his older brother, Dominique, are both members of a krumping dance group called the Snubb Family. They have performed all over the West Coast. Jalontae Howard, the youngest in the group, is nicknamed "Looney Snubb" because of his comedic dance style. The Snubb crew hang out frequently at the Zone and often participate in dance competitions. His dancing is so popular at Centennial High, he told The Oregonian last year, that during lunch "they won't even let me eat. They're always asking me to krump." Krumping is a dance that started in California as an alternative to gangs. Howard and his dance partners are all avowed Christians.



Anne Sophie Rialland, 16, of Lebaule, France, is going to West Linn High School. Rialland told her student newspaper that she lives with her parents, a 14-year-old sister and two cats in her hometown. She also said that her favorite food is French cheese and her favorite movie is "Lost in Translation." Her school in France was small, with only 100 students. No hospital would confirm Sunday that she was a patient.



Susy De Sousa, 18, from Italy, who is a senior at Clackamas High School, was shot multiple times and is critcally injured. "This is a significant tragedy to our school community," said Matt Utterback, principal of Clackamas High. "It certainly is a tragedy to those families. It's unimaginable what those families must be going through right now. Our goal is supporting our students and our staff, and we are making plans to do so." Utterback said he planned to notify students, parents and staff Sunday night. Counselors will be available at the school starting today.



Ana Zambrano, of Puerto Viejo, Ecuador, is attending Glencoe High School in Hillsboro. She is in fair condition at OHSU Hospital. According to the Glencoe student newspaper, Zambrano was struggling with the language barrier, which, she said, made it hard for her to learn a different culture and make new friends. She said she misses home. She talked about being bored in Hillsboro and sometimes going to Portland to see a movie.



Gonzalo Mauricio Vasques Orozco, "Gonzo" from Guatemala, is going to high school in Hood River. He was in fair condition at OHSU Hospital on Sunday after having surgery. By the afternoon he had text-messaged friends. Rotary Club of Hood River reported his arrival in its newsletter last fall. Karen Ford of Hood River was his first host mother. Reached by phone, Ford said Vasques Orozco now was staying with another host family, but she had been told he was OK although he was injured in the pelvic area. Richard Polkinghorn, a vice principal at Hood River Valley High School, said he'd heard that Vasques Orozco should be well enough to be released today. Polkinghorn said he'd been calling teachers to let them know what happened and help them prepare to speak with students.



A Taiwanese student was among the wounded, but his name was not available.

-- Elizabeth Suh; elizabethsuh@news.oregonian.com

-- Noelle Crombie; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com

-- Maxine Bernstein; maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com

-- Suzanne Pardington; spardington@news.oregonian.com