I know many of you read the headline and immediately wondered if a Terminator had been set loose in Portland, and while I’d shrug my shoulders with indifference if it had because hey, it’s Portland, that’s not actually the case. I’m talking about a different company here, Skynet Security. As many of you already know, Portland, Oregon has turned into what I like to call a dumpster fire city in the wake of its woke takeover. A leading leftist stronghold, the city is a place where people are directed not to use terms like “pregnant woman” or “citizen,” where feminine hygiene products are referred to as “period products” and breastfeeding is now “chestfeeding.” Portland is also a place where you can get shot in a nightclub by a guy known simply as “Streets” and win a $1.8 million jury verdict against the club’s security contractor while the police are still unable to identify the shooter more than a year later. 

On May 14, 2023, gunshots rang out in Northeast Portland at the Capitol Bar where 33-year-old Jose Manuel Carabes Perez was shot in the thigh by a suspect who was a stranger to him but not to Skynet Security, the company hired to secure the premises that night. The suit alleges that Skynet had encountered “Streets” at other businesses where they operated as security contractors in this troubled part of the city, and that he had a reputation for “a violence problem,” which the company “knew or should have known” posed a danger to club patrons. 

Having unknowingly let “Streets” into the club armed that night, he apparently did what he does best, getting into a dispute with another patron before opening fire into the crowd like a cowardly psychopath. In doing so, he struck three bystanders who weren’t even involved in the dispute, Carabes Perez and two women. Get this, all were shot in their thighs, begging the question, does this guy’s hatred come from a little man complex? 

With the constant berating of law enforcement and the city becoming a “defund the police” hotbed, it is no surprise that Portland has gone from being considered a relatively safe city to being a serious contender for the title of Murder City, USA. Regardless, police were on the scene quickly, applying tourniquets and rendering medical aid.

Barry Engle, Carabes Perez’s attorney throughout the three-day trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court, is not aware if law enforcement has ever identified the shooter, with a police spokesperson saying only that the case remains open.

“He was just a young person enjoying a night out and didn’t deserve what happened to him,” said Engle of his injured client. 

Two other local bars had been sources of complaints from the neighborhood before and after the incident, with three people being injured in a 2021 shooting in the area. 

The lawsuit places the blame on Skynet Security, as the company was responsible for patting down customers and preventing violent people from entering. The Capitol Bar was not part of the proceeding, however, it was named in the lawsuit and decided to settle for an undisclosed amount before the trial. 

Skynet Security admitted to falling short of its duties on the night of the shooting, an almost predetermined fault with a name like Skynet, leaving one question for the jury. How much money is due Carabes Perez? 

Ultimately the shooting victim was awarded $1.75 million for pain and suffering, with an additional $62,000 for past and future medical and psychological care costs. Attorneys representing the security company said Skynet had declined to comment on the verdict.

The two women who were also shot that night filed lawsuits as well, but both settled for undisclosed amounts.

Look, we all watched it unfold during the 2020 “Summer of Love” riots that left at least 25 Americans dead and cost taxpayers more than $2 billion in damages. We were told it was “mostly peaceful,” and called racists, bigots and Nazis if we disagreed. We saw organized and well-funded groups backed by political talking heads calling for the dismantling of our law enforcement agencies during an unprecedented time of lawlessness. But even after the dead are buried and the cities are rebuilt, it seems Americans will continue to pay for what took place and that there is much work ahead of us if we endeavor to reverse and repair the ideology, and frankly the illness, at the root of all the evil that befell our country and still plagues us today.