On August 9th, Portland Police issued a shelter-in-place order in Montavilla as they attempted to apprehend the person suspected of threatening people with a firearm. Police initially received a call at 12:19 p.m. reporting a suspicious person with a weapon at SE 82nd Avenue and Ash Street. That situation quickly escalated to a substantial police response involving armored vehicles and tactical officers. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) eventually took a suspect into custody without injury and recovered a gun as evidence.
According to Police, arriving officers located the man suspected of brandishing a weapon. However, he refused to comply with officers, taking off on foot. Around 1 p.m., police officers confronted the person near SE 81st and Washington Street observing what they believed was a gun. Assisting PPB members created a six-block perimeter around the suspect bordered by SE Stark Street, SE 82nd Avenue, SE Morrison Street, and SE 80th Avenue. PPB utilized the public safety alert system to issue a shelter-in-place order for the immediate area as a precaution.
Because Police believed the suspect had a firearm and was non-compliant, the Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) responded to the incident with assistance from PPB’s Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT). A neighbor near the incident and home at the time heard the event. They described 20 to 30 minutes of police instruction to the suspect that went partially obeyed. Police instructed the individual not to reach for his weapon. The person complied by keeping his hands on his head. However, subsequent requests were not followed, preventing officers from safely approaching the suspect. Eventually, he followed all commands, and Police took the person into custody without physical injury.
This Police response was significant in scope and received substantial attention from people in the area. Some observers remarked that the show of force was unnecessary. However, the PPB has established procedures to address situations where suspects are armed, and policies also prevent support from alternative response divisions like the Portland Street Response when a weapon is involved. Even if police actions seemed larger than necessary to some, the process PPB followed did result in a none violent apprehension of a potentially armed individual.
Correction: An earlier version of this article had the date as August 19th instead of August 9th.