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Law enforcement killed a man who police say injured a Portland police officer in the hip during a shootout that occurred when the Portland Police Bureau assisted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s attempt to serve a warrant at the decedent’s residence early Friday morning.
Portland police have not yet identified the man who died or the officer who was injured. Police said in a statement Friday afternoon that the officer, a 14-year veteran of the bureau, was treated and released from the hospital Aug. 27 and is now recovering at home.
PPB said two of its responding officers, assigned to the Special Emergency Reaction Team, fired shots at the decedent, and that the bureau will identify them Saturday. The officers are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the fatal shooting, the bureau says. It is unclear whether shots from Portland police officers or federal agents killed the suspect.
It is the third fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer in Portland this year.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell told reporters Friday that the officer who was injured did not fire at the suspect. Lovell says the bureau had been called upon unexpectedly to assist the DEA in serving a warrant near the Kenton neighborhood in Northeast Portland.
“We weren’t part of this particular case or service,” Lovell said. “[As] the police chief, you never want to be surprised for these sorts of things, or as police officers.…We do have times where we assist other law enforcement agencies. Typically, there is planning and preparation that go into these, and then sometimes things don’t go as planned. So it’s probably not something I can say whether they planned well or not. But we get called and we come to help.”
PPB said in a statement Friday that the DEA called for its assistance once the suspect, now deceased, began “threatening to shoot the federal agents.”
“Officers began evacuating nearby apartment units for safety of the community,” the Police Bureau said. “At about 7:30 am, at least one shot was fired and a Portland police officer was shot and injured. Preliminary information is the shot came through a wall.…Additional shots came from the suspect’s location. Sometime afterward a Portland police officer fired shots and the suspect is deceased.”
The Portland Police Association, which is the union that represents PPB sworn personnel, said in a statement Friday that the injured officer was “awake and alert” during treatment at the hospital.
“This is a prime example of the dangers we face every day as police officers, responding to calls for service—often coordinating with other agencies and jurisdictions,” said PPA executive director Daryl Turner. “In dedication to the safety our community, we respond in instances that may be extremely volatile and can rapidly escalate to a life-threatening situation at any moment.”