On March 7, 2024, 16-year-old Jose Vasquez-Valenzuela was shot and killed at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem, Oregon, after gunfire erupted between two large groups of young people gathered at the park. Police arrived about 1:45 p.m. and found three male victims with gunshot wounds. Jose, a sophomore at South Salem High School, died at the scene; two others — 15-year-old Damien Esquivel-Soto and a 16-year-old boy — were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The next evening, March 8, 16-year-old Nathaniel Shauntae McCrae Jr. surrendered to Salem police and was lodged at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center on charges including second-degree murder for Jose’s death, two counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, and unlawful use of a weapon.

The case later proceeded in juvenile court, where Nathaniel McCrae, then 17, admitted to second-degree murder and pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon as an adult under a plea agreement that avoided adult prosecution. Jose’s family expressed distress with that outcome. Did anyone at Bush’s Pasture Park that afternoon see or hear anything that could help clarify what started the shooting?