I would have love to have gotten this up this morning, but I just don’t have that kind of time before school.

Farly early this morning (shortly after 6AM), we awoke to the sound of a large number (perhaps three of four) helicopters flying overhead. Thinking that this was more than a little strange, my dad turned on the TV and it all made sense: there had been a murder less than 1/4 of a mile down Bethany Boulevard (the main road in this area). Now remember, this is a low-crime suburb of $300,000+ homes - violent crime is not something we see a lot of.

The news reports were sketchy, with local television stations reporting between one and five people killed and having no real details beyond that. As luck would have it, it was about 7:05AM by then and my sister and I had to leave to catch the school bus.

As a result of the police work and the proximity of the murder, Bethany Boulevard had to be closed (and it remains closed at this time). As one can imagine, there were traffic problems and more than a few school buses were late as a result.

At school there were no official announcements, allowing the rumor mills to run at full capacity. I never heard any actual names, but I heard that one of the people shot went to Westview and another to Meadow Park (a local high school and middle school, for those of you who don’t know). There were rumors of names, but I never actually heard them. The only rumor that I heard was that the person was an ‘Asian break dancer’, a moniker that could fit any number of people. Enough with the rumors, let’s see what the latest info on the local news sites tells us:

• Three victims - a woman and her two sons, ages 12 and 16
• Is is believed that this was not a random crime - the killer likely knew the victims
• There was no sign of forced entry into the house
• A man who lived in the house [presumably the husband or boyfriend] found the bodies on returning from a night shift at his place of work
• The family had lived there for about two years, and tended to keep to themselves
• Bethany Boulevard is to remain closed for an indefinite period of time [presumably due to the investigation]

Sources: KATU TV and KOIN TV

Bethany is in yellow and Cornell is about an inch or two off the bottom of the image (less than 1/4 mile):

3:45pm - Just received an automated call from my school notifying all students that counseling is available if it is needed. I would consider this confirmation that the older boy was a student at Westview.

4:30pm - From KGW.com “They were identified as Melody Dang, 37, and her two sons, 16-year-old Steven Dang and 12-year-old Jimmy Dang, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.”

With that, I can confirm that I do not know these people.