Documents released Thursday from the Portland Police Bureau suggest the officer who killed Andre Gladen may have lost possession of a knife during the fatal encounter.
One officer who responded to the scene saw Gladen lying in the doorway and noticed "'a double-edged knife' sticking in the ground at the feet of Ofc. (Consider) Vosu," according to police bureau officer statements. Det. Erik Kammerer said he observed an empty knife sheath on Vosu's vest.
A knife recovered at the scene of the Jan. 6 shooting of Andre Gladen
Portland Police Bureau
"During the initial photographs of Officer Vosu, I noticed his Taser holster was empty, and a knife sheath attached (to) his external vest carrier appeared empty," Kammerer's report states.
Documents also show a Taser was found on the floor under Gladen's body.
According to initial reports of the incident, Gladen had pushed into the southeast Portland apartment of Desmond Pescaia.
Pescaia called 911 and reported that Gladen was acting erratically. Police reports indicate that Vosu arrived on scene, attempted to apprehend Gladen, shocked him with Taser and eventually shot him. Pescaia said Vosu fired because Gladen was carrying a knife.
It's unclear whether the knife belonged to Gladen or someone else, though The Oregonian has reported the knife recovered at the scene is similar to those that officers carry.
The release of the documents comes almost two weeks after a Multnomah County grand jury decided not to criminally charge Vosu for Gladen's killing.
Details in the officers' reports also raise more questions about Gladen's mental state during his fatal encounter with police. Gladen's family has continued to assert that he may have been in the middle of a mental health crisis when he was shot and killed.
Gladen was an African-American man from Sacramento who was in Portland visiting his cousin. Gladen was blind in one eye, struggled with schizophrenia and took medication for bipolar disorder, family members told OPB.
Evidence collection following Gladen’s autopsy show he had two hospital gowns, a personal effects bag from a hospital, and hospital ID bands on his left wrist.
Gladen also had prescription paperwork. It’s unclear what the prescription was for.
Family members confirmed to OPB in January that Gladen was at the Adventist Medical Center less than a mile away in the hours before he was killed.
Gladen's cousin and self-described lover, Diamond Randolph, said she last saw Gladen after he woke her up and threatened her, according to an investigator.
"Andre Gladen was telling Diamond Randolph the devil was talking to him. Diamond Randolph was so afraid she was going to be stabbed or assaulted by Andre Gladen she called 911," the report read.