PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Three teenagers — including an 18-year-old now charged as an adult — are facing attempted murder charges after a shooting on Rocky Butte led to a high-speed chase.

This is just the latest incident involving youth violence in Portland. Sgt. Kevin Allen with the Portland Police Bureau called the case heartbreaking.

“It’s a tragedy that kids that should be having fun with their friends and doing things that kids do are involved in such serious crimes,” Allen said. “It’s not only alarming and disturbing, but it’s sad.”

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On Friday, 18-year-old D’Angelo Smartlowit pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and weapons charges. His initial court appearance comes as a 17-year-old identified by police as the driver and a 16-year-old passenger face similar charges in juvenile court.

Police said shots were fired on Rocky Butte Wednesday night. Officers tried to stop a car leaving the area, but investigators said the driver fled — even after spike strips were deployed.

“The driver kept going at high speed, 90 plus miles an hour on rims trying to get away from the police,” Allen said.

The pursuit ended near Northeast 148th and Halsey after officers used a PIT maneuver. Detectives seized three handguns from the vehicle.

No victim was found at the scene, but police later confirmed a man who arrived at a Vancouver hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound was connected to the shooting.

“The kids that were involved, at least from a suspect standpoint, were involved in criminal group related activity,” he told KOIN 6 News. “Many of us out here wearing the uniform, we’re parents of kids. Some of us have kids that are these ages — and it’s hard for us to really understand how they got involved in something so serious.”

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While police said youth violence is nothing new, they acknowledged that once guns are involved, the consequences escalate quickly. Allen pointed to the bureau’s Focused Intervention Team, which works to identify at-risk individuals before crimes turn violent.

“They try to figure out which people, many times, kids, are involved, or could be involved in dangerous activities,” he explained. “And they try to get to them before they commit the crime, because once the crime is committed, it’s way worse.”

The arrests come just weeks after another group of teens was charged in connection with the murder of grandfather and minister Kevin Cooper in Northeast Portland.

Multnomah County Juvenile Services Director Dr. Kyla Armstrong-Romero told KOIN 6 News, “What we’ve seen is an increase of youth who are either carrying weapons and or victimized by a gun.”

Armstrong-Romero said Multnomah County has seen a spike in youth crime, especially in East County.

“I think about my own teenage years and being able to go to the mall, go skating, and all kinds of different pro social activities,” she said. “It seems as though many of those have dwindled recently, and so kids are out sometimes bored and doing things that maybe they shouldn’t be.”

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With detention costing more than $600 a day, she said the solution is not jail but investment in community-based programs that promote mentorship, after-school activities and re-entry services – including the Community Healing Initiative, known as CHI.

“With the Youth that we refer to CHI in particular, and to other service providers, we see that 86% of them do not reoffend within the first year. And so what we know is that those services work,” she said.

She added, “It’s not ‘soft on crime’ to invest in opportunity. It is truly the remedy for the violence… and if you want to stop the problem and not just put a band aid on it, you have to invest in it.”

Smartlowit is expected back in court for his arraignment on March 9.

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