UPDATE (5:00 p.m. PT) — An officer with the Portland Police Bureau shot and killed a man Sunday afternoon after a Taser failed to subdue him.
The shooting took place in southeast Portland Sunday afternoon in the 9600 block of S.E. Market Street just east of Interstate 205, police said. The officer was responding to a report of a man who was not leaving a residence.
Lidiya Omelchenko told OPB she called police after her neighbor told her there was a man sleeping directly outside his home.
"[My neighbor] came and talked to me, somebody sleeping on his porch, steps," Omelchenko said. "I told him, 'call the police.' After this, I went to see this man, and I called [the police] too."
Omelchenko said the man, 36, appeared to be homeless.
The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported Omelchenko's account.
The officer arrived at the residence and found the man, according to the Portland Police Bureau. An eyewitness told KOIN the man entered his apartment, where he pulled out a knife. Police say they found a knife inside the home.
An eyewitness said the man entered his apartment, where he pulled out a knife. Police say they found a knife inside the home.
"[The] police officer said 'You need to stop or I'm going to Tase you.' The police officer warned him 5 or 6 times...he never listened, and three gun shots went off," Desmond Pescaia told KOIN.
Police say witnesses report that Officer Consider Vosu used his Taser on the man and then shot him when Tasing failed to subdue him. The bureau has not released the name of the deceased because investigators have not yet notified his next of kin.
The man received medical treatment at the scene of the shooting but died at a Portland hospital.
Chief Danielle Outlaw said the bureau is committed to a full investigation.
"A loss of life impacts us all and I know we all immediately search for answers,” she said in a statement. "I ask for patience as we continue our investigative process and then release information as soon as it is appropriate."
In statement Monday on Facebook, Portland commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty reiterated her position that police officers are responding to too many calls that could be handled by other emergency personnel.
"Our police cannot solve the houseless crises, cannot solve for our community member’s mental health struggles, and cannot build permanent supportive housing," she wrote. "We cannot afford to lose one more Portlander because we have failed to build a 21st Century compassionate response system."
Vosu is on paid administrative leave pending investigation. He's 41 and a two-year veteran of the bureau.
A Police Bureau spokesman says the officer who fired is on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation by police and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy.
