GRESHAM, Ore. -- Police shot and killed a black bear about 2 a.m. Friday that roamed about five miles through Gresham neighborhoods and retail districts with heavy foot traffic.
They first learned of the presence of the bear through social media on Thursday, police said. It was spotted near 190th Avenue and Giese Drive, where homes meet farmland.
It then went north and was spotted about midnight at Powell Boulevard and Duniway Avenue, a retail district with stores and restaurants. The bear was then seen at 188th Avenue and Burnside by the Rockwood MAX station.
The bear then went behind the Benford Court apartments in the 1300 block of Northeast 183rd, just south of Halsey Street. The four-to-five foot bear was killed near Kirk Park and blocks from H.B. Lee Middle School.
Sarah O'Shea said it went through her yard. Police told her to stay inside. She saw the bear out her back window.
"It was crazy. I woke up my husband, then woke up my daughter because she had her window open in the back room and I was like shocked," said O'Shea.
"Officers had no choice but to put the bear down for the safety of the public," police told KGW.
Getting a game officer to the scene would have taken about two hours, police said.
The Oregon State Police said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials would take the animal and examine it, to try and understand why it roamed out of the wild and through the city.
