5 days ago
Affidavit: Gun play leads to death in SE Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A welfare check that became a SERT standoff is now a homicide investigation inside a Southeast Portland apartment.
Leonel Macias was originally booked by Portland police for second-degree murder. But Monday afternoon, the charge was downgraded to manslaughter as new details about the became more clear.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by KOIN 6 News showed Macias and the victim, Kimberly Venegas-Gonzalez, were playing with a .45-caliber gun when she was shot in the neck.
The timeline revealed in the document showed Macias called 911 at 6:32 p.m. and said his girlfriend was dead. At that same time, his mother, Felipa Silva, called 911 and said her son's girlfriend accidentally shot herself and he shot himself.
Just 4 minutes later, Portland police arrived at the residence and saw a man and woman — later identified as Silva and her boyfriend, Jesus Magna — standing outside with the front door open. Silva told officers 'he has a gun,' as the front door closed.
Silva told police she and Magna had been with her son and girlfriend earlier but left to get ice cream. About 10 minutes after they left, her son Facetimed her and said, while holding a gun to his chin, he wanted to kill himself because 'he did not know there was a bullet in the chamber,' the document states.
When they got back to the apartment, Silva said they saw Macias standing in front of the couch where his girlfriend was slumped over. The document states Magna tried to calm Macias down, but when he heard police sirens coming, he 'said he was going to shoot and pointed his gun toward the front door' as his mother and her boyfriend left.
Flash bangs were used to breach the front door of the apartment. Once the SERT team got inside, they found the woman slumped over on the couch, but Macias was not in the living room. Officers took the body of the young woman outside, where she was declared dead.
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The standoff between Macias, 20, and police began at that point and lasted until around 9 p.m. when he came out of the residence. A K9 was used to take him into custody. He was taken to the hospital for treatment but was released and then booked into jail.
When investigators had a chance to look inside the apartment, they found a single .45 caliber casing between the front door and the couch. Investigators used a 'trajectory rod' to search for the bullet, and found it in the baseboard heater, the document states.
On Monday, an autopsy concluded 'the muzzle of the gun was touching the victim's skin when it was fired' on the front of her neck.
Authorities said detectives determined the circumstances around this shooting were criminal, but haven't yet released more extensive details.
Because of a technicality on the state's part, Macias was not able to enter a plea. A KOIN 6 News search of court records show he has no previous criminal history in Oregon.
This is the 24th homicide of 2025 in Portland, a decided drop from the 47 homicides at this point a year ago.
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