A Portland police officer shot and killed a man after he came at the officer with a screwdriver outside a Motel 6 near the Oregon Convention Center on Thursday evening, sources say.
The man was taken by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he died, police said.
Police initially were called to the motel at the corner of Northeast Holladay Street and Grand Avenue on a report of a suicidal man, according to sources with knowledge of the shooting who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
They met the man in the area of the lobby. The man went back to his room at one point, but police later were talking to him outside. Two officers asked him whether he wanted to be taken to a hospital.
When the man agreed to go to a hospital, police told him they needed to pat him down before he could get into an ambulance. At one point, the man became agitated and came at an officer with a screwdriver, according to sources.
Dispatch reports indicate the first two officers were at the motel about 7:15 p.m. Portland Fire & Rescue emergency medics also were at the scene when the shooting occurred.
The man appeared to have a weapon in his hand, said Kalli Temple, who lives across the street from the motel and watched the scene unfold from her window. Police approached him and looked as if they were trying to get him to drop it, she said.
But he ran from them, Temple said.
An officer then shot the man from about 8 to 12 feet away, she said. She said she saw the man flee toward the nearby Kaiser Permanente Park. Temple said it appeared he had been having a mental health crisis.
Police described the man as a white adult. They said they went to the motel for a welfare check but released few other details.
Police early Friday said the man had received emergency medical care but died at the hospital.
The officer who shot him was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard practice, as police and prosecutors investigate what happened. Police said they would release the officer’s name Friday. The officer is Black, a source said.
Police said they would release the name of the man who was killed after the medical examiner confirms his identity and officers notify his family.
At least a dozen Portland police cars had responded to the scene by 8:50 p.m. Thursday More officers arrived as a group of demonstrators gathered at the edge of yellow police tape at least a block from the shooting scene.
Police Chief Chuck Lovell recorded a videotaped message while standing next to the police mobile command center parked on Grand Avenue near the motel. The Police Bureau distributed the message on social media.
“Our officer encountered a very difficult and dynamic situation that no officer wants to face,” Lovell said. The chief said he was briefing Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner.
“I want to assure the community that we’re committed to a full, thorough and complete investigation,” he said.
Red crime scene tape cordoned off a section of the parking lot of Motel 6, and detectives were examining the pavement around a parked white car in the lot. Later, the detectives entered and examined the interior of a second-floor room at the motel.
Representatives from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, the city attorney’s office and the Independent Police Review office also responded to the police shooting scene.
A crowd of protesters on the edge of the scene grew to about 50 by roughly 10:15 p.m.
Some carried signs and flags with anti-fascist symbols and messages, as well as toy rubber pigs that made squeaking noises. The group periodically chanted and shouted at police, calling for officers to quit their jobs.
Roughly 15 to 20 officers with shields and batons stood facing the protesters, at one point moving toward the group and telling protesters to step away from a police car.
One protester later sat on the police car while several others approached police and stood face to face with officers. Video footage showed an officer pushing a protester away and the protester grabbing hold of what appeared to be the officer’s baton. Police then used chemical spray and moved toward the crowd.
A different video clip showed an officer firing a less-lethal weapon during an interaction with protesters.
Police said on Twitter that officers throughout the city “responded to help with scene security.”
The shooting was the second fatal shooting by Portland police this year. Officer Zachary DeLong fatally shot Robert Delgado, 46, at Lents Park in April. Police were initially called to the park after someone reported a man was doing quick draws with a gun. Investigators later determined Delgado’s gun was a replica. He died of a single gunshot wound. Oregon’s Attorney General and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office are jointly investigating the police shooting of Delgado.
— Maxine Bernstein, Jayati Ramakrishnan, Beth Nakamura and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh