White/Caucasian Joshua Byrd, age 38, was found shot to death on December 18, 2021, in Portland’s Eliot neighborhood. Police were called just before 3:30 p.m. to the area of North Flint Avenue and North Hancock Street, where officers located the body of Joshua Byrd, age 38, a Portland resident. The Oregon State Medical Examiner later determined the cause and manner of death to be homicide by gunshot wound.
Streets around the scene were shut down while homicide detectives processed evidence and canvassed for witnesses, but no suspects were located at the time.
In the days that followed, detectives worked the case as a targeted killing, continuing to appeal for tips from anyone in the vicinity that afternoon. Public notices identified the victim by name as Joshua Aaron Byrd, age 38, and reiterated the time and location of the gunfire near the Interstate 5 overpass, anchoring the investigation in that block of North Flint and North Hancock. Memorial listings and local coverage preserved the core facts as officials sought leads, keeping attention on the precise window of the shooting and the residential-industrial edges of Eliot where it unfolded.
On January 4, 2022, the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction Team assisted homicide detectives in arresting 51-year-old Kimmie Donnell Edwards, identified publicly as a person of interest in the killing of Joshua Byrd, age 38. In a subsequent update released February 15, 2022, police announced that Edwards had been indicted in connection with the case. Gun Violence Archive listings for the incident also record Edwards as the subject-suspect, noting his arrest status, aligning with the bureau’s statements.
Reporting contemporaneous with the indictment described Edwards as facing a second-degree murder charge in the death of Joshua A. Byrd, age 38, who had been found dead on December 18 near the Eliot neighborhood’s freeway overpass. Authorities continued to urge anyone with relevant information to contact detectives as the case moved from arrest to formal charges. No videos were released with these public notices, and officials did not detail a motive in the statements that accompanied the arrest and indictment announcements.
