The Portland Police Bureau said officers shot and killed an armed man Wednesday afternoon near Mall 205 in Southeast Portland.
Police said they were called to the Target store at the mall near Southeast Washington Street because a suspect in a previously reported robbery was back and attempting to steal merchandise.
The suspect had an active warrant out for his arrest, according to a police press release issued Wednesday evening.
When officers saw the man leaving the store, they attempted to arrest him in the parking lot, and he ran, the police statement said. Police said there was a “confrontation” when the man approached Southeast 96th Avenue and that three officers fired shots. The statement said the man was injured on the sidewalk and police called for medical help, but then officers approached the man and confirmed he was dead.
Police said they found a gun near the man.
No officers were injured in the incident, according to police. Of the three officers involved in the shooting, two are members of the bureau’s Focused Intervention Team and one is from East Precinct.
“It’s been a tough week for the city, a tough week for the police bureau, a tough week for the community and certainly for those most significantly impacted, as we’re reminded of the fragility of life,” Chief Bob Day told reporters at the scene.
None of the officers were wearing body cameras, Day said, because the city’s body-worn camera pilot program ended in November. Day said he didn’t know if investigators had recovered surveillance-camera footage of the shooting.
Sgt. Kevin Allen, a spokesperson for the police bureau, declined to speculate why the officers opened fire, saying he didn’t know if they saw the suspect openly wielding a gun.
“We haven’t had a chance to interview the officers involved, so we don’t know what they perceived,” Allen said.
The investigation of the shooting closed streets for several hours around the mall, which is just off Interstate 205 in the Hazelwood neighborhood. Southeast 96th Avenue was closed between Washington and Main streets.
As is typical with police shootings, there will be an internal review and the case will go before the Police Review Board. The involved officers, who have not yet been publicly identified, are currently on paid administrative leave.
“They will literally be out of the organization until this gets resolved,” said Day.
The police shooting was another addition to a week of carnage as the city approaches the end of the year. Four deadly traffic crashes were recorded over 48 hours around Christmas, putting the city’s total traffic death toll at 71 motorists and pedestrians. A fatal stabbing on a MAX platform on Christmas Eve raised the city’s homicide count to 73 — a grim tally down roughly a quarter since last year but well above pre-pandemic levels.
And in another incident of violence at a shopping center, a man was found shot and killed in a Washington Square mall parking lot last week.
At Mall 205, a man who declined to provide his name said that he was with his family at the MAX platform on Southeast Main Street when he heard six shots. He grabbed his family members and jumped on an arriving train. He said he returned about 20 minutes later and saw a man lying dead on the sidewalk near a T-Mobile store.
Oleg Molodtsov, an employee at the nearby tech repair shop Fixoid, said he heard four or five gunshots. When he went outside, he saw about half a dozen police cars. Some police officers were carrying shields, he said.
Molodtsov said officers later told him that three cars parked right in front of T-Mobile, including his, were going to have to stay there for several hours because they were part of the crime scene.
He said he was told he wouldn’t be able to access his car until at least 2 a.m.
Molodtsov said he finds himself increasingly worried about the area. He previously had his car stolen from the parking lot, he said.
“This particular area is sketchy,” he added.
Ben Bolokhovskiy, owner of Fixoid, said customers and employees of his business and others were stranded for about an hour and a half until they could be escorted out by police.
The area has seen a lot of crime, he said, and it has been getting worse. His business has been vandalized and was targeted in two attempted robberies this year alone. Cars have been stolen from the parking lot as well.
Bolokhovskiy said the T-Mobile store has recently installed bullet-proof windows.
“I’m contemplating whether we are going to renew our lease,” he said, adding that crime in the area “exploded after the pandemic.”
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
— Yesenia Amaro | yamaro@oregonian.com | 503-221-4395 | @YeseniaAmaro
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