NEWS
Former Bend Running Back Charged with Murder WWW.BENDSOURCE.COM / APRIL 14, 2022 / BEND’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
6
Amara Marluke’s family claims former Mountain View running back Keenan Harpole physically and psychologically abused Marluke before taking her life By Jack Harvel Courtesy of Portland Police Bureau
Courtesy of Portland State University/GoViks.com
Deschutes County Sheriffs arrested Keenan Harpole in Bend around 8:30 am on April 4 for allegedly shooting and killing Amara Marluke around 1 am on April 4 near the Portland State University campus. The sheriff’s office transported Harpole to Multnomah County and turned him over to the Portland Police Bureau. Harpole pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon and is being held on a no-bail warrant. Marluke was a 19-year-old artist, activist and freshman at PSU where she was pursuing a music degree. Harpole was also a first-year student and former member of PSU’s football team, though he had left the team, according to the University. Marluke’s aunt told People Magazine the pair had been in an on-again-off-again relationship and that Harpole engaged in domestic violence shortly after the relationship began in the summer of 2021. “The detective told me that she had passed and I just couldn’t believe it. And I still can’t, I’m still, I’m still struggling,” Marluke’s mother, Amy Marluke, told KATU-2. “There was a community around her trying to get her away, and to get her to stay away. But I think we all thought that there would be time— that there would be a chance for her, to heal and to make a different choice. And it just escalated so quickly.” A Washington Post report found that nearly half of all women who were murdered in the decade prior were killed by
Left, Keenan Harpole, who allegedly shot and killed fellow Portland State University student Amara Marluke, played one season of football at the university, though his name is absent from the team’s spring roster. Right, activist, artist and PSU student Amara Marluke was shot and killed the morning of April 4. Police believe the shooter is former Mountain View High School running back Keenan Harpole, who graduated in 2019.
a current or former partner. More than a third of men who commit domestic killings had proclivities toward violence and had been convicted of domestic abuse, were party to a restraining order, or committed other violent crimes. Hundreds of people gathered at the PSU campus on Saturday to remember and celebrate Marluke and advocate for a more proactive approach to domestic violence.
“We hope to learn from that experience and have that energy part of it because her experience at Portland State makes us very sure that she is the very best of Portland State, we want to honor and treasure her,” PSU President Stephen Percy told KATU-2. Harpole graduated from Mountain View High School in 2019 where he was voted the offensive and defensive most valuable player. Goviks.com, PSU’s
official athletics website, said Harpole was majoring in applied health and fitness. Online court records show Harpole will appear in court next on April 14 to be arraigned on a pending indictment. People experiencing domestic abuse are encouraged to contact the National Violence Domestic Hotline via phone at 800-799-7233, by texting “START” to 88788 or chat online at thehotline.org.
Code Changes Could Expand Shelter Capacity
The Bend City Council heard a report on changes recommended by the planning commission that could get it closer to the goal of 500 shelter beds By Jack Harvel The Bend City Council heard a report on proposed shelter code changes at its regular meeting on April 6. The controversial amendments are meant to increase the number of available shelter beds by clarifying zoning requirements for shelters. The Sounding Board to House our Neighbors, which drafted the new code, is a committee formed by the City and made up of members of the city council, Bend’s planning commission and leaders in homelessness, housing and economic development. The Sounding Board held meetings from April to December of last year and surveyed over 850 residents while drafting code amendments. The new code differentiates permanent and temporary types of shelters. Temporary types of shelter include hardship shelters, which allow homeowners to let RVs, manufactured homes and mobile homes park
on their property for as long as 18 months for someone experiencing housing instability. Temporary shelters can resemble several different types of shelters and are limited to 180 days. They will be allowed in residential zones but only if a building has a non-residential use like a church. “The proposed amendments to the Bend development code as recommended by the Sounding Board create three new permanent type shelters. It’d be group shelters, outdoor shelters and multi-room shelters,” said Pauline Hardie, senior code planner in the meeting. The new code defines a group shelter as a building that has one or more sleeping areas, like the shelter operated by Shepherd’s House on Second Street, while an outdoor shelter is a site without a centralized building but can have tents, tiny homes or RVs. A multi-room
shelter, meanwhile, has individual sleeping rooms. The most controversial aspect of the code change allows outdoor shelters to exist in residential areas. On Feb. 16 the City Council dropped plans to create an outdoor shelter off Ninth Street after backlash over its proximity to two schools, trails and homes. The City Council will do a first reading of the amended code at its meeting on April 20. Additional codes require shelter operators to prove they’ve set good neighbor guidelines and to communicate with neighbors before the shelter is running. City staff also emphasized what the code doesn’t do, like regulate operations, exempt shelters from general zoning rules, require shelters be built, supersede homeowners’ covenants, conditions and restrictions, or regulate camps on public property.
