- Nathan Gilles
- Officers at the scene of the shooting
Around 8 this morning, four Portland police officers shot at a man wielding what looked to be a handgun on SE Stark and 37th, near Laurelhurst Park.
The man, who is suspected of robbing a Belmont convenience store, was found by police sleeping in a parked car alongside the park at 7:30 am. After waking up, and noticing the surrounding police cars, the man emerged from his vehicle holding the weapon. But! After the four currently unnamed officers shot at the suspect and retrieved his weapon, they found that it was a replica gun.
“Even if you point a fake gun at a police officer, the officer will act appropriately,” says Sergeant Pete Simpson. “It’s very hard to tell.”
Simpson says that the suspect sustained non-life threatening injuries and is currently in surgery. He also related this incident to the January shooting of Bradley Morgan, who was shot after pulling out a toy gun in front of police officers. More information on the exact officers involved and other missing details to come.
Well, the robbery’s over, time for a nice nap in my car which is parked across the street. What a moron. Darwinism at it’s finest.
I fail to understand the fake gun thing. Do you get a lesser charge if you get nabbed because you didn’t ACTUALLY threaten someone with a deadly weapon?
The robbery was at 48th & Belmont, so he was napping a decent number of blocks away from the scene of the crime.
Following the shooting, officers were heard to sorrowfully intone, “My bad.”
11 blocks is decent?
I think it falls right between nominal and ideal.
It’s better than “across the street” which is what #1 thought.
So the guy is shot and in the hospital with non life threatening injuries? If I were the police I would ask myself a couple questions: Are my officers not aiming in the right spots or are the bullets being used not doing their job? If I were a cop and shot someone, I would hope at the very least the injuries to that person would be life threatening. I guess handguns aren’t quite instant death ray machines after all. Likely an unpopular opinion in this city that loves to hate it’s police, but maybe they need bigger bullets or something.
Does it not bother anyone that the guy is shot and in the hospital with NON life-threatening injuries? If I were the police I would ask myself a couple questions: Are my officers not aiming in the right spots or are the bullets being used not doing their job? If I were a cop and shot someone, I would hope at the very least the injuries to that person would be life threatening. I guess handguns aren’t quite instant death ray machines after all. Likely an unpopular opinion in this city that loves to hate it’s police, but maybe they need bigger bullets or something. Glad it wasn’t a real gun if the guy just got a trip to the hospital.
According to PPB at-the-scene press conference, robbery happened 3/25, shooting happened 3/26.
New PPB verbage: to ‘display’ a weapon seems sufficient to prior usage, to ‘point’ a weapon.
PPB seems to have followed plan to get all parts staged prior to acting. That’s good.
What’s the rational behind replica handguns? Why are they legal? Is that part of the 2nd Amendment?
@9 Just guessing here, but I assume that hitting moving humans with a tiny bullet under extreme stress is a bit more difficult than the Duck Hunt-type world you seem to inhabit.
@11- As a veteran of a foreign war I can tell you that is not quite accurate. The sidearms issued to the police do not have that much stopping power to begin with.
What is up with the rising trend of people with fake guns going up against real guns? When is that ever a good idea?
@Iceprez (ditto) agreed. @sgtgrumbles……turn of phrase . It was still dumb. Don’t hurt yourself there