Portland protesters attack cops after deadly police-involved shooting
After a deadly police-involved shooting Thursday in Portland, a large group protesters attacked officers at the scene.
What are the details?
Portland police said the group began yelling, throwing items at officers, and attempting to interfere with the investigation.
A crowd has formed at the officer involved shooting scene. Some participants have thrown objects and tried to enter… https://t.co/gKSOsk7jaA
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) 1624600689.0
Police said one officer's baton was grabbed, and she was being pulled toward the crowd until other officers quickly intervened. Another member of the crowd pepper-sprayed an officer, police said, adding that at least one police vehicle's tires were punctured and its window was broken.
Image source: Twitter
Here are a couple of clips showing police pushing protesters away from the crime scene:
Portland police advanced just now on protesters outside a Motel 6 where police shot a man earlier today Crowd con… https://t.co/hbnBUQRU8h
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) 1624600088.0
After a police shooting at the Motel 6 on NE Holliday st. Near the Convention Center. Portland Police push proteste… https://t.co/4C64I11JKd
— Independent Media PDX (@NDpendentPDX) 1624600732.0
What are the details about the shooting?
Police got a welfare check call after 7 p.m. about a white adult male dressed in all black at a motel. Police said after officers arrived with paramedics, they encountered a man matching that description, and an officer-involved shooting took place.
Police said the man was taken to a hospital by ambulance but died despite lifesaving efforts by medical personnel.
"We're early in this investigation," Police Chief Chuck Lovell said. "Preliminary information suggests our officer encountered a very difficult and dynamic situation that no officer wants to face."
My statement from the scene of the officer involved shooting in the Lloyd District. https://t.co/Qg0Cxfbl0i
— Chief Chuck Lovell (@ChiefCLovell) 1624598820.0
Police also made an effort to quell rumors about the race of the man who was shot:
There is erroneous information being circulated on social media regarding in the officer involved shooting in the L… https://t.co/N1eQQk8iLh
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) 1624595350.0
Maxine Bernstein, who covers law enforcement for the Oregonian, offered the following account — and noted that the involved officer is black:
Image source: Twitter
An apparent witness gave a different account to KOIN-TV, saying the incident may have started as a fight between two men, and one stabbed the other. The station reported that the witness said police shot the stabbing suspect twice in the back in the parking lot of a Motel 6 — but police didn't confirm that account.
Anything else?
Police said the involved officer will remain on paid administrative leave until the completion of an investigation by the department and the Multnomah County District Attorney Office. KGW-TV said the officer's name was expected to be released Friday.
Here's a KGW video report that aired before the station learned the man who was shot had died:
Similar recent incident
In April, the Oregonian posted a tweet that identified a man Portland police fatally shot as white "in light of social unrest prompted by police shootings of Black people." The paper deleted the tweet after backlash.
One of the critics was conservative radio host Jason Rantz, who tweeted that the "Oregonian is noting the race of the man who was shot in Portland because people won't care enough to riot unless the victim is black and can use it to forward a political agenda. How instructive."
It didn't seem to matter to one protester at the time who recorded himself on video walking along a row of Portland police officers, flipping off each one of them as he bellowed, "F*** you! Quit your f***in' job!"