Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital
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  • Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital

Update, 7:27 pm:
 Police now say the armed man officers killed this morning fired two shots into the ground, then “a third round from his handgun towards police officers at the scene, resulting in two SERT officers shooting at and striking the suspect.”

When the man, a 51-year-old whom police still aren’t identifying, fell to the ground, an officer hit him with a “less lethal baton,” the Portland Police Bureau says, because he was still armed. The man didn’t move, and officers tried to render aid unsuccessfully.

Cops say the two officers involved in the shooting are both 22-year veterans, and both on the bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction Team (Portland’s version of SWAT). They’ve not been identified either.

It’s worth noting the police bureau’s in the midst of wading through a settlement with the federal government, which sued the city in 2012 over police abuses to people in mental health crisis. It’s still unclear how all that might have come into play in this morning’s shooting.

Original post:

Here’s what we know about Portland’s sixth police shooting of the year, which happened just a short while ago.

Police say they got a call at around 5:41 am that a man was in the parking lot of Legacy’s Good Samaritan Hospital in NW Portland with a gun to his head. The police bureau sent in its specialty teams—both the Crisis Negotiation Team and the Special Emergency Reaction Team—to contain the situation and try to talk the man into putting down his weapon.

It apparently didn’t work. Police sent out a release at 7:41 saying the man “fired several shots during this encounter and has been shot by police.” As of that release, he was being treated (not many better places to be shot than a hospital parking lot). Cops haven’t released word about his condition.

We’ll update when we know more.

The shooting, as I say, marks the sixth officer-involved shooting of the year. Three of those, so far, have not been fatal (four if you count what we know about this incident right now).

Update: The man police shot this morning, still unnamed, has died.

Reporters at the scene report two officers were involved in the shooting, and that the sequence of events is still confused.

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...

10 replies on “Portland Police Shot A Man Friday Morning”

  3. He fired two shots and @MaxOregonian doesn’t know what prompted police to shoot? I suppose they have to wait until at least one unlucky bystander is killed before they can act? I’m a liberal, very liberal, and even *I* can clearly see why they shot this man if he fired twice. Whether at the ground or into his neighbor’s planter is irrelevant, he was a clear and present danger.

  4. Definitely a clear and present danger. The thing to remember here is that the cops fired to nuetralize the man, and did not move in to finish him off. Cops have guns for a reason. This incident has nothing to do with the national trend of some cops intentionally murdering suspects that are not armed and/or already incapacitated. All in all, l think PDX cops have a pretty good record on making the distinction between nuetralizing a suspect and executing them on the spot.

  5. Aurelius141

    This isn’t the movies, there’s no shooting the gun out of the bad guy’s hand. Police are trained to shoot for center of mass, the torso. There is not neutralizing.

  7. VELMA, l am not under the impression that this is the movies. I grew up in NYC and saw IN REAL LIFE enough police brutality and gun violence (including a gun in my own face, and SAVED by a cop) to jusify what l’m saying. Did you even read what l wrote? I just got done saying these cops did their best in a bad situation.

    I went on to say that this incident was not like the dozens of videos that show suspects who were clearly immobilized/unarmed/BEGGING FOR THEIR LIFE and the cop CONTINUED TO SHOOT UNTIL THE PERSON WAS DEAD. Thats not self defense, thats murder.

    To say that there is no such thing as neutralization is so twisted it makes me throw up a little. Have you ever seen someone get tazed? Bet ya havent. Very effective. Guy drops like a stone. NEUTRALIZED.

    You think l watch too many movies. Well l think you watch too much mainstream news. Go to http://www.democracynow.org and click on TOPICS and then POLICE BRUTALITY. You will see there’s a big difference between a cop thats doing their job (as l believe these officers were), and one who acts as judge, jury and executioner.

    PS l’m sorry the guy died before he could get help. And l’m glad no one else got hurt, including the officers who were well trained and did their best to contain the situation. If they wanted him dead he never would have made it to the emergecy room. Thank you PDP! You have a tough job and l know most of you are just good cops who do your best to do the right thing in a crazy world.

  8. You think PDX cops have a good record when it comes to unjustified shootings? You either haven’t been here very long and have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, or you have a dishonest pro-law enforcement bias. Wake up.

  9. FACT: Cops kill more people than any mass shooter ever has but no one is screaming to take away their guns. Welcome to the biggest police state in the world.

  10. Mark, l did not say pdx cops have a good record when it comes to unjustified shootings. I said all in all they have a pretty good one, meaning compared to other cities we have less cops blatantly shooting to kill. I have 8yrs experience in Portland. Grew up in NYC. Ten years living in Baltimore and Philly. So yes l know what l’m talking about. I do not have a law enforcement bias, in fact l am terrified by the militarization of our police forces and the impunity with which they intentionally kill when a suspect is incapacitated and/or unarmed. But you would know this about me if you had a tenth grade reading comprehension level and read my last two posts. Dont feel bad tho. VELMA can’t read either.

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