Portland police believe a shopper found dead Monday in a Fred Meyer parking lot in Northeast Portland was shot and killed while trying to stop a purse snatching. The initial investigation suggests Jonathan Trent, 47, witnessed the robbery and intervened, police said Thursday. A suspect or suspects shot him before fleeing, they said.

Portland police have identified the man whose “suspicious death” at the Gateway Fred Meyer on Monday is now considered a homicide, according to investigators. Read online:

Portland Police investigators have launched a homicide investigation following a suspicious death case at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer store.

The City of Portland, and its new 12-member City Council, is facing a growing budget gap that will require more than $100 million in budget cuts, according to a memo released Friday.

Portland officials Friday said that the city could face a staggering budget gap of more than $100 million in the coming fiscal year, a figure substantially higher than previous forecasts. The announcement came in a city news release just two days after the Portland City Council approved a spending package to increase their office budgets and that of Mayor Keith Wilson by $4.