A Portland man has been charged with the 2022 murder of a young security guard, officials said. Cedrick Damon Washington Jr., age 31, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon in the killing of 22-year-old Sircharles Marc Anthony Jones near South River Parkway and South Moody Avenue. The suspect pled not guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
According to OregonLive, U.S. marshals apprehended Washington on Tuesday and he was booked into Multnomah County Detention Center. Details regarding a motive have not been disclosed. The murder of Jones in the early hours of May 6, 2022, had become part of an unsettling high in Portland crime, with the city recording its highest number of homicides that year.
Jones, working as a security guard for Cascadia Global Security, was found deceased in the driver's seat of a vehicle, having been shot in the head. Police officers had responded to the scene in the back parking lot of the Marriott hotel at 2115 South River Parkway following the deadly shooting incident. KGW noted that Jones's death was the 38th homicide reported in Portland in 2022.
The community expressed a mix of shock and relief following news of the arrest. "I was walking my dogs, and I remember seeing it all taped off over there," said Brian Springer Jr., a local resident, in a statement obtained by KPTV. "It’s something I didn't expect to happen down here." Another unnamed community member told KPTV, "It sounds like they’re moving in the right direction in that regard." Washington's earlier criminal record includes a conviction for fourth-degree assault in 2013.
