Oregon Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, Everytown Statement on the Shooting Death of Aidan Ellison in Ashland

The Oregon chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement on the fatal shooting of Aidan Ellison, a Black 19-year-old, outside a motel in Ashland, Oregon. Ashland’s police chief told reporters the shooter “engage[d] [Ellison] in an argument” over the volume of the music he was playing, Yahoo reported.

“We’re horrified,” said Amie Wexler, a volunteer with Oregon Moms Demand Action. “Aidan Ellison should be alive today. Instead, another family is in mourning, and the country is learning the name of yet another Black teenager who didn’t get the chance to grow up. This is a tragic reminder of how urgently we must work to prevent gun violence, fight systemic racism and build a safer future.”

Ashland’s police chief has said the shooting was “utterly senseless” and “didn’t need to happen.” Friends of Ellison held a candlelight vigil in his honor Thursday after the shooting, which came eight years to the week after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, son of now-U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, outside a Florida gas station following a dispute over the volume of music coming from the car Davis was in. 

Black people in Oregon are five times as likely as white people to die by gun homicide. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in the state.

More information on gun violence in Oregon is available here.