Four Seattle teenagers who unleashed a spree of violent crimes across Portland were arrested Friday after a dayslong manhunt. 

Portland officers searched for the teens from July 14 to the early hours of July 17, when a gas station clerk was shot five times during a Friday morning robbery at 4.45am, police said in a statement.

The teens, two 17-year-old boys, a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, were arrested in a house raid, after Portland police linked them to the series of crimes, according to KATU. 

Police uncovered a disturbing cache of weapons allegedly connected to the group, including four firearms that had been illegally modified with conversion devices, commonly known as switches, which allow certain semi-automatic weapons to fire at a much faster rate.

The series of assaults started with a carjacking on Tuesday at 12.36 am, when police responded to reports of an armed robbery at gunpoint of a car that took place at Northeast 73rd Ave. 

The driver, who was working for a rideshare service, was approached by multiple armed suspects who robbed him and fled in his car. The victim ran away on foot and sustained minor injuries. 

Four Seattle teens were arrested in connection with a series of armed crimes in Portland including a convenience store robbery, in which an employee was shot multiple times and critically injured 

Images of the assailants’ weapons stash were recovered during a SWAT search of a Northeast Portland home and later shared online by the Portland Police

Authorities have not disclosed how the teenagers allegedly obtained the firearms or the conversion devices

Later that day at 3.31pm, officers responded to reports of menacing with a handgun in the 6100 block of Northeast 31st Avenue, according to the statement from police. 

The victim reported that he interrupted a group of suspects attempting to break into his vehicle, however the group ran and commandeered another car pointing firearms at the victim whilst they drove off.

At 10.58pm that night, a robbery was reported at a gas station on the 3400 block of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard where investigation revealed that multiple suspects robbed the store at gunpoint, threatening the store employee and striking the victim in the head with a pistol. 

The teens’ crime rampage came to a terrifying end at a 76 gas station on Northeast Broadway on July 17. 

Police said armed and masked suspects entered the business at around 4.45am, when a struggle began shortly after with the store clerk. 

Authorities said the clerk was shot four times in the abdomen and once in the leg. Bullets also hit the store’s walls and shattered a window.

Officers arrived less than four minutes after being dispatched, secured the scene, and summoned emergency medical responders. 

The victim’s wounds were so severe that first responders did not know if he would survive, KATU reported. 

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he underwent extensive surgery and is recovering. 

The images reveal pistols fitted with extended magazines alongside weapons investigators believe had been illegally modified

Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit, linked the robbery to several other crimes earlier in the week, including a rideshare driver’s carjacking at gunpoint on Tuesday, a menacing incident involving armed suspects attempting to steal from a vehicle, and an armed robbery at another gas station convenience store in which an employee was struck in the head with a handgun

Police have since released photographs showing several of the firearms that they believe were used to carry out the brutal attacks. The images reveal pistols fitted with extended magazines, alongside weapons investigators state had been illegally modified.

According to police, the arrests brought an end to what they described as a dangerous series of violent acts committed over several days.

Upon arrest, the teens were booked into the Donald E long Detention Center.

One 17-year-old was charged with Second-Degree Attempted Murder, and two counts of First-Degree Robbery.

The other 17-year-old was charged with First-Degree Robbery, First-Degree Assault, Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

A 16-year-old was charged with two counts of First-Degree Robbery.

A 15-year-old was charged with Second-Degree Attempted Murder, and two counts of First-Degree Robbery.

Because all four suspects are juveniles, their identities have not been released.

The arrests came after what investigators described as a complex effort to connect multiple incidents across Portland. 

‘As of Saturday afternoon, only three of the teenagers were tied to the gas station robbery and shooting on Friday. However, all four were connected to a separate gas station robbery earlier in the week on July 14,’ Portland Police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen said. 

‘[The suspects] were tied to numerous other crimes, including a carjacking that happened on Tuesday,’ Allen said. ‘There was also a robbery of another gas station where a clerk was pistol whipped and injured by the robbery crew. There was another case where a victim who had interrupted a car prowl was menaced with a firearm by multiple suspects.’

According to Allen, investigators are still working to determine a motive for the crimes and the Seattle teens’ connection to Portland.

The case has raised renewed concerns about the presence of illegally modified firearms in violent crimes, particularly when investigators say young suspects are allegedly involved.

‘As a citizen of this community and as a police officer and a dad, it is hard for me to imagine how this can happen, and I certainly understand the community’s alarm when they hear about this,’ Allen said, adding that ‘the activities that they were engaged in were causing incredible harm to the community.’

Police have warned that conversion devices can significantly increase the danger posed by firearms by allowing weapons to fire at a rate far beyond their original design.