In the mid-afternoon of a Wednesday in North Portland, tragedy struck the community. Laray William Seamster, a 26-year-old Black man, was shot and killed on November 11, 2015. The shooting occurred around 3:15 p.m. near the intersection of North Vancouver Avenue and Fargo Street, close to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. The Oregon State Medical Examiner later confirmed that Seamster died from multiple gunshot wounds.
In the immediate aftermath, trained volunteers and a nurse from the nearby Red Cross rushed to his aid, but his injuries were too severe.
The Portland Police Bureau launched a homicide investigation into what was the city's 28th homicide of the year. Detectives from the gang enforcement team were aware of Seamster as a known gang associate. Witnesses at the scene provided a limited description of the potential assailants, telling police they saw two younger Black men involved in the shooting. It was reported that these individuals fled the area on foot and possibly escaped in a silver vehicle. Despite this initial information, no arrests have ever been made in connection with the murder, and no specific suspects have been publicly identified. The case remains an unsolved homicide, leaving a family searching for answers.
The weight of this unsolved crime has been a heavy burden for Seamster's family, particularly his mother, Erica West. She has described the loss of her son as a mother's nightmare. The pain for the family was tragically compounded five years later when Seamster's younger brother, Sammie West III, was also shot and killed in a separate, and also unsolved, homicide. At the time of his death, Laray Seamster was a father to four children. In the years following his death, his family has held vigils and pleaded with the public for any information that might lead to a break in the case. Crime Stoppers of Oregon has offered a reward for information that leads to an arrest, but justice for Laray William Seamster remains elusive.
