Editing Silverton, Oregon (section)

==History==
The first white settlers arrived at Silver Creek in the 1800s. Two settlers, James Smith and John Barger created a sawmill along the creek in 1846. The town was originally known as Milford. In 1854, the town was abandoned and the settlers moved downstream to the current spot of Silverton. The town was first known as Silver Creek but the name was changed a year later. The town expanded and grew and was incorporated in 1885. The town now housed about 229 people. The town continued to grow until now, where it now has over 10,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Silverton, Silverton Origins |url=https://www.silverton.or.us/192/History-of-Silverton |publisher=City of Silverton |access-date=May 15, 2019 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516181535/https://www.silverton.or.us/192/History-of-Silverton |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Killing of Andrew Hanlon===
In June 2008, Silverton came to international attention when an unarmed [[Irish citizen]], Andrew James (AJ) Hanlon, aged 20, was killed by a police officer, Tony Gonzalez, in controversial circumstances.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215228316322590.xml |title='Irishman's killing spurs uproar abroad' (''The Oregonian'', 5 July 2008) |access-date=January 15, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116185423/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215228316322590.xml |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="rte.ie">[http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0703/105286-hanlona/ 'Family wants answers after US shooting (RTÉ,3 July 2008)]</ref><ref>[http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?q=%22andrew%20hanlon%22%20oregon&fromDate=&toDate= 'Inquest hears Dublin shot by police was unarmed (19 March 2009)]{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Irishman shot dead by US police">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7487795.stm 'Irishman shot dead by US police']</ref><ref>[http://bocktherobber.com/2008/07/andrew-hanlon-gunned-down-by-an-american-cop/ 'Andrew Hanlon: gunned down by an American cop']</ref> Gonzalez, who was responding to a reported disturbance of the peace, shot the unarmed Hanlon five times, although Hanlon's sister recalled seeing seven bullets in her brother's body.<ref>[http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/andrew-hanlon-shot-seven-times-by-us-police-368411.html 'Andrew Hanlon shot seven times by US police']</ref>
 
The death, which Hanlon's sister described as the only shooting in Silverton in the past twenty years,<ref name="Irishman shot dead by US police"/> was greeted with shock there as well as in Ireland, particularly when it emerged that Hanlon had been experiencing psychological issues and had most probably gotten lost on his way home to his sister's house in Silverton.<ref name="rte.ie"/><ref>[http://bocktherobber.com/2008/07/andrew-hanlon-gunned-down-by-an-american-cop/ 'Andrew Hanlon: gunned down by an American cop (Bock the Robber, 3 July 2008)]</ref> Complaints were made by Hanlon's family that it took six hours for the police to inform his sister of her brother's death, despite her living only a mile away,<ref name="irishabroad.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/news/Articles/irishman-oregon100708.aspx |title='Cops kill Irishman in Oregon' (IrishAbroad, 10 July 2008) |access-date=January 15, 2014 |archive-date=January 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109150911/http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/news/Articles/irishman-oregon100708.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> and questions were asked why the police had not used a tazer, which was available to them.<ref name="Irishman shot dead by US police"/> Requests for transparency were greeted by obfuscation and secrecy and claims that, in Andrew Hanlon's mother's words, the city's establishment "had closed ranks on" the Hanlon family [[Blue wall of silence|to protect Gonzalez]].<ref name="Irishman shot dead by US police"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215228316322590.xml |title='Irishman's killing spurs uproar abroad' (The Oregonian, 5 July 2008) |access-date=January 15, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116185423/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215228316322590.xml |url-status=dead }}</ref> while the Consulate in [[San Francisco]] of the [[Government of Ireland]] registered concern over the killing.<ref name="irishabroad.com"/> Protests outside Silverton City Hall were also ignored.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215053713170810.xml&coll=7 |title='Almost 100 protest deadly police shooting' (The Oregonian, 3 July 2008) |access-date=September 27, 2016 |archive-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009162810/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215053713170810.xml&coll=7 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 24 July 2008, a Marion County grand jury found that because Gonzalez had testified that he believed that Andrew James Hanlon was armed, his killing was justified.<ref>[http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/07/grand_jury_irish.html 'Grand jury: Silverton police officer justified in shooting death' (''The Oregonian'', 24 July 2008)]</ref> Eight days later, on August 1, 2008, and just over a month after Andrew was killed on the 30th of June, Gonzalez resigned from Silverton's police department. He had been arrested in July and charged with child abuse.<ref>[http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2008/0714/world/us-officer-who-killed-dubliner-arrested-67290.html 'US officer who killed Dubliner arrested'(Irish Examiner,(14 July 2008)]</ref> On December 7, 2008, Gonzalez was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months imprisonment when he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.katu.com/news/local/35804874.html |title='Former Silverton cop pleads guilty to sex abuse' (Katu.com, 9 December 2008) |access-date=September 27, 2016 |archive-date=November 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103071328/http://www.katu.com/news/local/35804874.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>