One man was arrested during an otherwise peaceful protest in Portland tonight (that's still going on as I write this) for pulling a gun on the crowd.
The armed man, reportedly a local right-wing activist, was quickly talked down and shooed away from a crowd of hundreds gathered in front of the city's Justice Center.
Update, Friday, 7 am: Police confirmed late last night that the man is Michael Strickland, who was booked into jail on charges of Menacing and Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree. He's slated to be arraigned this morning afternoon.
Original post
Right wing blogger who runs "laughing at liberals" pulls gun on protesters in 1st ten seconds of this periscope vid https://t.co/E4MnxarIab
— Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) July 8, 2016
Here’s activist Mike Bluehair explaining the situation. #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile pic.twitter.com/u7Hbdyksfw
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) July 8, 2016
Officers have arrested a man in Downtown Portland after he was displaying a gun during a demonstration. No shots were fired by anyone.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 8, 2016
Man pulls out gun several times on crowd during rally. Cops are called twice and do not arrive for ten minutes. pic.twitter.com/869o8zqcWo
— Rebeca Bagdocimo (@rebecabagdocimo) July 8, 2016
Here’s the black panther escorting the guy w gun away. The “laughing at liberals“ guy put in back of police truck pic.twitter.com/Mv7LCQv9yL
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) July 8, 2016
So many screams of “he’s got a gun”!
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) July 8, 2016
Here is gunman @ #BlackLivesMatter protest in PDX explaining 2 me why he pulled gun. Arrested right after this pic.twitter.com/5EGcr9WpaB
— Andrew Dymburt (@DymburtNews) July 8, 2016
Meanwhile, the news out of Dallas, you've probably heard, is far worse. As of this writing, the police chief has announced 10 officers were shot by two snipers, while demonstrators marched over the recent police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
BREAKING: Chief Brown "Tonight it appears that two snipers shot ten police officers from elevated positions during the protest/rally"
— Naomi Martin (@NaomiMartin) July 8, 2016
From the Dallas Morning News
Three Dallas police officers and one DART officer have been killed and several others were injured after shots were fired in downtown Dallas during a rally and march Thursday night.
Dallas police Chief David Brown said preliminary details are that two snipers shot 10 police officers from elevated positions during the rally in downtown.
Three are dead, two are in surgery and three are in critical condition, he said.
There are no suspects in custody at this time, Brown said.
Largely peaceful protests were held around the country tonight in the name of Sterling, killed by Baton Rouge police, and Castile, killed outside of St. Paul.
