$3,000 worth of swords stolen from Portland man’s car
By Chandler Watkins
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PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — A Portland man says thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and swords were stolen from his car this past weekend.
“On Saturday, I taught a class here at the park like I do every Saturday,” said Cameron Turner. “I went back home, everything was great, parked my car, went upstairs. The next morning, I went to go run some errands Sunday morning. Came downstairs and saw all the windows in my car were smashed.”
Turner says he never thought it would happen to him; his car was in a gated parking garage underneath his apartment building. But this past weekend, a rapier, a cavalry saber, a bag of synthetic swords which he bought to teach classes with, bags of protective gear, and his personal steel longsword and zweihander were all stolen. In total, around $3,000 worth of equipment was taken.
“To have done it and stolen something that has so little meaning or value or significance to most people,” said Turner. “Swords, fencing gear in general, is very niche and limited so yeah, complete and total disbelief.”
Turner and a business partner have been building their business, Luminous Movement, for the past year. He says business was growing and they were looking into potentially renting a space instead of teaching their lessons at parks. But now with much of his equipment stolen, while they can still teach scaled back classes, this was a huge setback for them.
He says while those who took the gear may not see their value, there were many pieces that held significance for him; custom made items as well as items gifted by family were among the stolen items.
“The impact will also be felt by the people I teach who have now lost a lot of the tools and training equipment that I provide to them that kind of make this inaccessible sport, more accessible for more people,” said Turner. “To those who took my stuff, I imagine they are starting to realize they are difficult items to try and move. Not a lot of market for it and not a lot of value to anybody who isn’t already a part of this community that we have.”
Turner and his business partner ask if you happen to see some of the swords or protective gear at local shops or being sold online to alert Portland Police.
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