Portland, Oregon: In what has been described as a series of random attacks, police have arrested and charged 49-year-old Joseph Kelly Banks with the murders of three individuals, one each month so far this year, and the attempted murders of two other individuals.
At the time of the shootings Banks was a resident at the Cameron Care Center in Northeast Portland which is a "transitional program that provides residential care and treatment for adults with mental illness."
Banks has been previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and anti-social disorder according to The Oregonian.
He had reportedly been committed to a mental health facility for at least a decade after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2007 for a weapons charge before moving into the Cameron Care Center. Banks was released in February 2021 under supervision after psychiatrists determined that his mental health could be stabilized by a "regimen of psychotropic medication."
A grand jury in Multnomah County returned a 15-count indictment on Monday, March 28, 2022 including three counts of second-degree murder with a firearm.
Banks is due back in court on May 9, 2022. He has entered a plea of not guilty.
"It's still like a weird messed up nightmare, trying to figure out why. It's senseless," Thomas Smith, a family member of one of the men allegedly shot by Banks told KOIN.
On January 2, 2022 Banks is accused of fatally shooting 39-year-old Isaiah Hurst. On February 2, 2022, Banks is believed to have murdered 35-year-old Jeff Ramirez while he was running errands. Both victims were found fatally shot inside of their vehicles.
On February 28, 2022, ballistic evidence tied Banks to the shootings of two other individuals which occurred just a short time apart.
On March 1, 2022, 55-year-old Mark Johnson was killed near Dawson Park.