UPDATE 2:10 pm : Portland Police say they'll release the names of the involved officers Sunday evening. In an afternoon press release, Police Chief Danielle Outlaw made her first comments on the shooting:
"I am aware a video was taken of this incident by a community member and that video was posted to the internet. Please be reminded that deadly force investigations are extremely complex and take time. The Police Bureau is committed to transparency and will ensure the entire investigation is released in a timely manner that does not impact the integrity of the investigation."
ORIGINAL POST 11:30 am:
A carjacking investigation led Portland police to fatally shooting a man inside a Southeast homeless shelter Saturday night.
The man, who has yet to be identified, had allegedly crashed a stolen Honda CRV on SE Martin Luther King Jr. and Stark, according to Portland Police spokesperson Christopher Burley.
Police tracked down the suspect in the Cityteam Ministries homeless shelter on SE Grand (a block away from the car) around 8 pm, interrupting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A video of the encounter, captured on Instagram by witness Morgan Pickering, shows at least a dozen armed officers flooding into the building, all aiming their guns at a middle-aged man in a red and blue coat.
Warning: Graphic video
After a series of gunshots, the video cuts out. According to Burley, the man died at the scene.
It's still unclear why police fired at the man. Burley does not mention whether or not the man had a weapon, only that officers shot at him. In the minute-long Instagram video, it's not obvious that the targeted man is holding anything, but there's at least one officer heard shouting "Drop the knife!" (I originally—inaccurately—thought an officer said "drop the gun!" not "knife"). In his post, Pickering writes that officers first fired beanbags at the suspect before upgrading to lethal ammunition.
In an interview with the Oregonian shortly after the incident, Pickering said the man had arrived at the shelter shirtless and was "stabbing himself in the neck," frightening shelter visitors and staff. The police have yet to back any of these claims up.
In an early Sunday press statement, Burley said the unidentified officers who shot the man have been place on paid administrative leave until an investigation into the shooting—and the subsequent Grand Jury trial— concludes. It's unknown how many officers actually fired at the suspect.
This fatal shooting comes in the midst of Mayor Ted Wheeler's contentious push to add nearly one hundred new officers with city budget funds.
