The Portland Police Bureau on Friday evening identified the officer who shot and killed a man on Thursday in a Motel 6 parking lot as Officer Curtis Brown, who has been with the bureau for 18 years.
The bureau also released security camera footage of the incident and a picture of what appears to be a sharp tool used for plugging flat tires, which police said the deceased man was wielding as a weapon.
The police bureau said officers were dispatched Thursday evening just after 7 p.m. for a welfare check at the Motel 6 on Northeast Holladay Street. In the 45-second clip of security camera footage released by PPB, a man is seen sitting on the outside staircase in the motel parking lot with two officers and four people from Portland Fire and Rescue. There is no audio, but the situation appears calm.
Twenty-five seconds in, the first responders quickly move away from the man and Brown draws his firearm. The man stands up from the stairs and is seen advancing toward Brown, appearing to hold a weapon in his hands. The man then drops to the ground grabbing his abdomen.
Nine seconds elapse from the time the first responders jumped back to the time the man was shot.
Police confirmed early Friday morning that the man had died.
In a statement Friday evening, Police Chief Chuck Lovell said releasing evidence so early in the investigation is rare, but the bureau is doing it to combat misinformation being spread about the shooting.
“Transparency and community trust are extremely important to us, but so is a full, complete, and thorough investigation,” Lovell wrote in a statement. “This illustrates how important it is to allow the investigation process to unfold before spreading unverified information.”
Portland police investigate the scene at a Motel 6 where earlier an officer shot and killed a man on June 24, 2021 in Portland, Oregon.
Jonathan Levinson / Jonathan Levinson
The bureau did not release details about the man who was killed, saying the agency had not been able to reach any next of kin. This is the second person who appeared to be in a mental health crisis killed by a Portland police officer this year.
In April, Officer Zachary DeLong shot and killed Robert Delgado in Lents Park. Delgado, who was holding a replica pistol at the time, was said by friends and family to have suffered from mental health issues for years.
The Portland police bureau’s track record of dealing with people in mental health crises is what led the U.S. Department of Justice to sue the city in 2012. That ultimately led to the DOJ settlement agreement, which is still in place and governs much of the city’s use of force policies.
The city fell out of compliance with the settlement agreement last year as a result of thousands of uninvestigated use of force incidents during last summer’s racial justice protests.
Officer Brown is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting.
