Cesar Alejandro Cuevas-Morales, a 32-year-old male from Venezuela, was found shot to death in Portland's Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood in the predawn hours of Saturday, September 27, 2025. Officers from East Precinct were dispatched around 3:42–3:45 a.m. to the 3400 block of Southeast 130th Avenue, near Southeast Powell Boulevard, where they discovered him lying in the street with fatal wounds.
The Medical Examiner later confirmed he died from gunshot injuries and ruled the case a homicide. Southeast 130th Avenue was closed between Powell and Rhone as detectives processed the scene and began canvassing for witnesses and evidence.
Authorities publicly identified the victim as Cesar Alejandro Cuevas-Morales, age 32, and noted his ties to Venezuela after notifying next of kin. The announcement underscored the stark abruptness of the violence—no dispute unfolding in public view, no lingering emergency response beyond the first call, only the quiet of a residential corridor broken by the arrival of patrol cars and crime-scene lights. Early reports from local outlets echoed the official timeline and location, situating the shooting along Southeast 130th Avenue steps from Powell, in the heart of a neighborhood that has wrestled with periodic surges in violent crime.
Detectives opened a homicide investigation that morning, but when officers arrived the shooter or shooters were already gone. By week's end, police had not announced any arrests, suspects, or motive, and they appealed for tips from anyone who saw or heard something in those early hours. The Portland Police Bureau asked the public to reference case number 25-266348 and to contact homicide detectives by phone or email, a familiar refrain in a year marked by multiple weekend killings across the city. Coverage from regional newsrooms and the bureau's own releases remained consistent: the investigation is active, and no suspect information has been released.
Community remembrances have begun to collect his name alongside others lost to gun violence in Portland in 2025, a spare roll call that offers little beyond the date, the city, and an age that says a life cut short. In the absence of arrests or a clear narrative of what led to the gunfire on Southeast 130th Avenue, the portrait of the 32-year-old remains defined by the hour of the call, the block where he fell, and the unanswered questions that follow. Investigators continue to seek witnesses and any surveillance footage that might trace the path of a fleeing car or a figure slipping into the dark, hoping to transform a fragmentary timeline into leads that point to accountability.
