Mental Health Association of Portland

By Rebecca Woolington, The Oregonian, Dec. 29, 2012

Jeffery David Anderson

A Washington County sheriff’s deputy and sergeant were justified in their fatal shooting of an Aloha man who pointed a loaded rifle at them in July, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office determined this month.

Shortly before 8:15 p.m. on July 7, sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a man armed with a rifle walking along Southwest 195th Avenue near Farmington Road in Aloha. Multiple people told 9-1-1 operators that the man was pointing the weapon at neighbors and passing vehicles.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Chad Lotman and Deputy Brian Wood were some of the first authorities to arrive at the incident, wrote Chief Deputy District Attorney Roger Hanlon in a letter upholding the shooting to Sheriff Pat Garrett. They found the man, whom they identified as 56-year-old Jeffery David Anderson, standing in 195th Avenue with the firearm. Read the rest of this entry »

Family calls for help; Washington County deputy shoots their loved one

By Findley Merritt, The Oregonian, September 09, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred at Bethany Meadows Apartments, 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw Road, Sunday afternoon that left the suspect in the hospital.

Sgt. Vance Stimler said deputies responded to a call around 3:45 p.m. from 50-year-old Jeffery Holmes‘ family who were worried about his welfare.

The two deputies spoke with Holmes through his door at the apartment complex urging him to come outside and speak with them. Stimler said when the man opened his door, he assaulted one of the deputies with a knife.

The deputy who was stabbed shot Holmes once with his gun in self-defense.

Holmes was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and the other deputy received a small laceration from the knife. Holmes’ condition is unknown at this time.

Stimler said the deputy who opened fire will be placed on paid leave pending the investigation.

No more information will be released at this time.

Deputy shoots man in Beaverton

From KOIN.com, September 9, 2012

A 50-year-old man was shot during an interaction with a deputy Sunday, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

This happened at the Bethany Meadows Apartments on Northwest Spartan Way in Beaverton, Ore.

Witnesses say the injured man, now identified as 50-year-old Jeffrey Holmes, was shot at multiple times.

“I heard the gunshots,” said neighbor Garrett Richards, who reported hearing five shots. “And then I came down here on my bike, and I saw a guy get carried out on a stretcher.”

Holmes was taken to the hospital, and underwent surgery Sunday afternoon. His injuries are life threatening, according to the sheriff’s office.

What led up to this shooting?

Deputies say two officers went to the Bethany Meadows apartment complex to conduct a welfare check on Holmes. This was around 4 p.m. Sunday.

“When he opened the door, he actually attacked the deputy with a knife,” Washington County Sheriff’s Sgt. Vance Stimler told KOIN. “The deputy responded by firing at the suspect.”

The deputy involved is on paid leave, which is standard procedure. He reported being slightly hurt by the knife, but was not taken to the hospital.

Deputies blocked off the entire Bethany Meadows apartment complex Sunday, as the investigation into the shooting began. The Washington County Major Crimes Team is investigating, as well as the Washington County District Attorney’s Office.

Police: knife-wielding man was shot in self-defense

From KPTV.com, September 9, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a deputy-involved shooting in the Bethany area of Washington County.

A sheriff’s representative tells FOX 12 that a deputies responded to a welfare check at an apartment complex in the 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw just after 3:30 p.m.

Officials said the deputies knocked on the door and made contact with 49-year-old Jeffery Holmes.

Investigators said Holmes initially opened his door slightly to talk with deputies. As deputies continued to talk with Holmes, they said he suddenly opened his door all the way and attacked the deputies with a knife.

One of the deputies opened fire, shooting Holmes at least once.

“I was just sitting on the couch watching TV and I just heard like 5 gunshots go off,” said Garrett Richards, who lives in the apartment complex. “Five minutes later I heard a whole bunch of cop cars coming in and out of the apartments.”

Medics took Holmes to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Deputies did not have an update on his condition Sunday night.

The deputy who shot Holmes suffered minor injuries in the attack and was placed on administrative leave.

Washington County authorities continue to investigate deputy-involved shooting that injured Bethany man

From The Oregonian, September 10, 2012

Washington County authorities are continuing to investigate a deputy-involved shooting that wounded a 49-year-old Bethany man Sunday afternoon.

Jeffrey Holmes

Jeffrey Holmes, 49, was shot at least once after he attacked a deputy with a knife, said Sgt. Vance Stimler, a Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The sheriff’s office isn’t releasing the number of times Holmes was shot or the number of rounds the deputy fired.

The sheriff’s office initially released an erroneous spelling of Holmes’ first name.

About 3:35 p.m., deputies responded to the Bethany Meadows Apartments, located in the 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw Road, after Holmes’ family called to have deputies check on him, Stimler said. Holmes’ family was worried about him, but the sheriff’s office hasn’t released specific information about their concerns.

When deputies arrived, they spoke with Holmes through his door at the apartment complex and urged him to come outside and speak with them. Stimler said when Holmes opened his door, he attacked one of the deputies with a knife.

The deputy who was attacked shot Holmes at least once with his gun in self-defense, according to the sheriff’s office.

Holmes was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland with life-threatening injuries, said Sgt. Bob Ray, another sheriff’s office spokesman. Ray said Holmes underwent surgery at least once. His condition was not available Monday afternoon.

The deputy, who has not been identified, suffered a small laceration from the knife, Stimler said, and was treated at the scene. Specific information about the deputy’s injury has not been released. It’s unknown what kind of knife Holmes used.

The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure. The Washington County Major Crimes Team and district attorney’s office are leading the investigation, which will be presented to the district attorney’s office for review. The shooting is the fourth officer-involved shooting in Washington County this year and the third to involve sheriff’s deputies.

• In June, a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot Robert Kimball Fox, 52, of Aloha, after authorities say he pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun.
• In July, two sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Jeffery David Anderson, 56, after he also pointed a loaded rifle toward deputies, authorities said.
• Last month, a Portland police officer fired his weapon at Michael Anthony Tate Jr. in Aloha while trying to arrest him on a felony warrant, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities have not released specific details about what prompted that shooting, including whether or not Tate was armed.

READ – Everything about what happened to Lukus Glenn

Jury in Lukus Glenn wrongful death trial finds fatal shooting violated his rights

From The Oregonian, August 30, 2012

Jurors sided with the Glenn family in the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf on Lukus Glenn, shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies outside his Metzger home in 2006.

The verdict, read just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, awarded $2.5 million in damages. Jurors found that deputies violated the teen’s Fourth Amendment rights in the shooting. They also found that former Sheriff Rob Gordon approved of the deputies’ actions in his executive summary, following an administrative review, which said the shooting was appropriate.

The lawsuit, filed in 2008, sought $5 million in damages from defendants Washington County and sheriff’s deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, who fired the lethal rounds.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman dismissed the suit in 2010. On appeal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a trial in the case, saying the facts of the case were in dispute and the court was not allowed to act as factfinder on summary judgment.

The Glenns’ day in court came last week, nearly six years after Hope and Brad Glenn witnessed the killing of their only child.

The incident began just after 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called 9-1-1, reporting her son was drunk, armed with a pocketknife and threatening suicide.

Minutes later, deputies arrived to find Lukus Glenn, 18, outside the family’s Metzger home, holding the knife to his neck. With the teen at gunpoint, deputies shouted commands. When he did not drop the knife, a Tigard police officer shot him with beanbag rounds. Gerba and Mateski then opened fire after determining that Glenn was moving toward the house, where his parents and grandmother were inside.

Attorney for the Glenns, Larry Peterson, stressed to jurors a number of mistakes led to a “false narrative” by police attempting to disguise an unreasonable shooting.

William Blair, attorney for the county and its deputies, argued the shooting was tragic but reasonable. The deputies acted in response to the threat Glenn presented to himself, to his family and friends and to them, he told jurors.

Jury awards $2.5 million to mother in Lukus Glenn case

From KATU.com, August 30, 2012

The mother of a Tigard teenager shot and killed by deputies won her lawsuit against the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the two deputies who opened fire.

A jury in federal court awarded Hope Glenn $2.5 million in the wrongful death suit of her son Lukus Glenn.

Lukus Glenn was shot and killed by deputies in 2006 after his mother had called 9-1-1 to report she feared for her son’s safety and the safety of others around him.

Lukus, 18, was armed with a knife at the time. The deputies reportedly told him to drop the knife before firing.

He was hit with six beanbag rounds before Washington County Sheriff’s deputies fired their service weapons, hitting him eight times, when they said he refused to surrender.

The deputies fired the beanbags and the live rounds in a span of just eight seconds. Hope Glenn has always contended the deputies acted too quickly in shooting and killing her son.

“I’m hoping that nobody else has to go through what we went through and other kids won’t be shot,” she said after the jury’s decision.

On Thursday in a federal courtroom, a jury said they agreed that the sheriff’s office should be held accountable.

The jury said that the two deputies and former sheriff Rob Gordon were responsible for the wrongful death.

Sgt. Bob Ray, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said they the department has not yet decided if they will appeal the decision.

“This has been a very difficult ordeal for the family of Lukus Glenn and for our deputies and their families,” he said in a statement.

The deputies were previously cleared of any criminal charges.

When asked whether there was any intention of changing policy or training within the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Pat Garrett said, “You know that is an ongoing process that we take very seriously with an administrative review, with an annual training that we provide every year. So that’s not something that would be new for us. That is an ongoing part of the evolution of our organization.”

It’s not clear if Washington County will appeal the decision.

The decision by the seven-member jury comes after a long legal journey for Hope. It included a judgment against her by a federal judge, which was later overturned by an appeals court.

The decision is historic not only for the rarity of a jury ruling against a law enforcement agency but also for the $2.5 million it decided to award Hope in this wrongful death suit.

Outside the courthouse, Hope and Brad Glenn hugged their supporters, including a couple of Lukus’ friends who were there the night of the shooting and witnessed it.

Lukus Glenn wrongful death lawsuit awaits jury’s verdict

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

Jurors in the wrongful death trial of Lukus Glenn, fatally shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies in 2006, left the courtroom to deliberate after 4 p.m. Wednesday.

On the final day of trial, they heard from the deputies who opened fire on the 18-year-old, who was holding a knife outside his Metzger home Sept. 16, 2006. Then, attorneys delivered closing arguments for little more than two hours.

In closing arguments, Larry Peterson, representing the Glenn family, stressed to jurors a number of mistakes led to a “false narrative” by police attempting to disguise an unreasonable shooting.

Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 just after 3 a.m. that morning for help with her drunk son. He was holding a knife, demanding his car keys and threatening suicide. His friends and family were struggling to talk sense into him.

“You ought not be afraid to call and seek assistance,” Peterson said. “If Lukus Glenn was saying anything that night with his knife to his neck, he said one thing loud and clear: ‘Help me.’ That’s what Lukus Glenn was saying as he stood there.”

The defense counsel for Washington County and two of its deputies wanted jurors to believe Glenn was in control of his behavior that early morning, Peterson said. But with a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit, he was not in control but in danger.

“He was the person that ought to have had the protection offered by our police services,” Peterson said. “He didn’t get it.”

Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, who fired the lethal gunshots, and the Tigard police officer who shot Glenn with beanbag rounds had changed their stories over time, Peterson argued, because they first tried to establish a time gap between the firing of less-lethal and lethal rounds.

When an audio recording of the 9-1-1 call that captured the gunfire surfaced, police had to explain the impossibilities in their initial stories, he argued.

Peterson told jurors the sheriff’s office administrative review didn’t resolve the inconsistencies throughout the investigation. By contrast, he said, the statements of Glenn’s parents,and his two friends who witnessed the shooting remained consistent.

William Blair, attorney for the county and deputies Gerba and Mateski, said in his closing arguments that the shooting was tragic but reasonable.

The deputies acted in response to the threat Glenn presented to himself, to his family and friends and to them, Blair said.

“He’s armed, he’s agitated, he’s acting out, he’s putting the knife to his neck, he’s saying he’s going to kill himself, he’s already broken car windows and kicked in the door of the house,” he said.

They were asserting control in “a situation the police did not create,” Blair said, “a situation the police were called to manage.”

Glenn ran for the house after he was struck with beanbag rounds, he said. Had Glenn run in the opposite direction, away from the house, he would not have been shot.

“What’s important is the deputies can’t read his mind, so in all the universe of possible things that may have been going through his mind,” Blair said. “What’s the worst possible scenario? He gets in that house and kills somebody.”

That threat justified the deputies’ use of lethal force, he argued.

“It is time for closure,” Blair said. “We ask that you, ladies and gentlemen, consider that closure not only for Mrs. Glenn, but also for these two deputies.”

Deputy shot Lukus Glenn ‘because I was afraid people would die,’ he says at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Mateski’s voice shook at times Wednesday during his testimony at the wrongful death trial of Lukus Glenn, the Metzger 18-year-old he fatally shot in 2006.

Armed with a pocketknife, Glenn was not complying with deputies’ commands to drop the knife Sept. 16 2006, Mateski said.

Their weapons pointed at the teen, deputies had no time to discuss a plan. But Mateski testified he had already made some decisions: If Glenn ran toward the woods, Mateski would watch him go. If the teen ran toward officers or the house, he’d open fire.

After saying this, Mateski paused. He looked down. Cleared his throat.

At his attorney’s suggestion, Mateski unscrewed the lid of the thermos next to him at the witness stand. He poured some water into a paper cup and screwed the lid back on until it squeaked. He exhaled. Drank. Paused.

“I didn’t want him to hurt anybody in the house,” he said.

Why did you think that was possible, his attorney asked.

“Uh, he said that he was going to kill himself, he threatened to harm his parents,” Mateski said. “And I couldn’t let him be in the house.”

He looked down, his hands folded in front of him.

“I continued to fire as I advanced up on him,” he said, his voice shaking.

Deputy Mikhail Gerba, a defendant along with Mateski and Washington County in a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from the shooting, testified after Mateski Wednesday morning.

Like Mateski, he said he was shocked when Glenn didn’t react after a Tigard police officer struck him with beanbag rounds.

“After he got hit with the beanbags, that’s when he focused in on the door where his parents were at, he still had the knife in his hand,” he told jurors.

Without discussion, he had arrived at the same decision as Mateski, Gerba said.

“It was so quick, he started to dart for it,” he testified. “I think I said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ That’s when I fired my gun. I wasn’t going to let him get in the house.”

He paused.

“Because I was afraid that people would die,” he said. “And if I would have allowed that, I don’t think I could live with myself.”

Witnesses testify in defense of deputies who fatally shot Lukus Glenn

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

To use a Taser on Lukus Glenn would have been too risky, according to testimony in defense of Washington County and two sheriff’s deputies, on trial in a wrongful death suit.

Jurors in U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman’s federal courtroom in Portland have heard hours of testimony on police training, tactics and use of force issues this week. Read highlights from some of that testimony below.

Witness: Andrew Pastore, Tigard police detective who shot Glenn with beanbag rounds before deputies opened live fire

Testimony: Pastore, a patrol officer at the time of the Sept. 16, 2006, shooting, responded to the call where deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski were yelling orders at the 18-year-old to drop the knife he was holding. Glenn was standing by the garage in front of his Metzger home, where he stayed until he’d been struck with beanbag rounds, Pastore said.

“He didn’t seem to be doing anything other than standing there,” he testified. “He had his right had up to his neck. I couldn’t see anything in his hand … until he turned … and I saw a flash of something metallic.”

The officers’ distance from Lukus Glenn, an issue first raised in the plaintiffs’ case, was again a focal point when Pastore took the witness stand.

In their statements to investigators soon after the shooting, Gerba estimated he was about 8 to 12 feet from Glenn, Mateski estimated his own distance to be 15 to 20 feet. Pastore told detectives he was behind the deputies and estimated his own distance from Glenn to be about 15 feet.

They later estimated their distances to be farther away.

While Gerba and Mateski were not armed with Tasers that day, Pastore did have one on his belt.

“I was aware that I had it,” he testified, “but the situation didn’t see appropriate for use of a Taser.”

After the shooting, Glenn fell facedown, halfway on the porch, Pastore said, with his hands underneath him. Glenn raised his upper body off the ground, Pastore said. He testified he saw something hit the side of the house, and he believed Glenn had thrown the knife. Glenn’s family and friends who witnessed the shooting testified previously that he fell with his hands empty, palms-up.

Witness: Rob Gordon, retired sheriff of Washington County

Gordon, who was sheriff at the time of the shooting, reviewed investigative materials compiled for an administrative review of the incident. In his assessment, he determined the deputies were properly trained and equipped and followed agency policies and procedures.

He told jurors he didn’t know if deputies were aware that Pastore, the Tigard officer, had a Taser with him. Even if they had known, the beanbag shotgun and lethal rounds were the appropriate uses of force, Gordon said.

“I don’t think the Taser would have been effective in this case,” he testified. “This had gone on for several minutes … there had been threats made by Lukus Glenn to his family, to his friends, to himself.”

Gordon testified that based on his administrative review, he believed Glenn was handcuffed after the shooting, a statement consistent with the testimony of Glenn’s father, Brad Glenn, who witnessed the shooting. Deputy Joseph Yazzolino, who responded to the scene just after the shooting, testified last week that Glenn was not handcuffed.

Witness: Michael Brave, litigation counsel at Taser International, expert on police practices and Taser use

Testimony: Shooting Glenn with beanbag rounds and live fire was the appropriate way of addressing the threat he posed to himself and others at the scene, Brave said. Using a Taser on Glenn would have been difficult because of he was not directly facing officers when struck with less-lethal force. He also told jurors that in high-stress situations, an officer can make mistakes changing the Taser cartridge and deploy the probes into his own hand.

Witness: William Lewinski, police psychology expert, founder and director of Force Science Research Institute, which studies officer behavior in use of force incidents

Testimony: Lewinski did not specifically address the Glenn shooting, but his testimony offered a potential explanation for why the deputies recalled different versions of events and later changed parts of their stories. In a study he conducted with police officers in the United Kingdom, Lewinski said he observed that under stress, officers made many errors when they recalled details that occurred in the “periphery.” In other words, in distressing situations, the officers narrowed their attention to focus on something important, losing sight of other things.

On cross-examination, Lewinski said his office will bill the defendants more than $13,000 for his testimony and work on the case.

Deputies’ shooting of Lukus Glenn was reasonable, psychologist testifies at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 28, 2012

Police did all they could before opening live fire and killing 18-year-old Lukus Glenn, a psychologist testified Monday at the wrongful death trial against Washington County and two sheriff’s deputies.

Attorneys representing the county and deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from the 2006 shooting of Glenn, presented evidence at trial Monday in federal court in Portland.

Michael Conner, a psychologist who has trained police in crisis intervention, told jurors the deputies’ actions at the 3 a.m. call outside Glenn’s Metzger home on Sept. 16, 2006, were reasonable and unavoidable.

“My opinion was what they did was necessary and that their options beyond that, there were really none,” he said.

Glenn was suicidal and showing anger and aggression, Conner testified. When people are suicidal and acting destructive and violent, he said, their thoughts can become homicidal “in a fraction of a second.”

“We have homicidal threats, we have a person who’s injured himself, destroyed property, has a knife to his neck, has threatened his family, has threatened to kill everybody, has threatened to run at the officers, has threatened, ‘You kill me or I kill me,” he said.

Communication tactics that officers might use in a calmer situation were not an option, he testified.

“This was an emergency,” he said. “It wasn’t a crisis.”

The only communication tactic they had was to say clearly and loudly, “Drop the knife, put the knife down and then we can talk,’” he said. “That’s a hard-line approach.”

Switching to a “soft-line approach,” he said, such as lowering their guns and asking Glenn to talk would have been too risky because the teen still may not have become more reasonable.

“I believe they did everything they could from the perspective of communication and to do anything else would have been to risk other people and themselves,” he said.

9-1-1 recordings reveal mistake during fatal shooting of teen

From KATU.com, August 2, 2012

The family of Lukus Glenn goes to court this month in its lawsuit over his death. His own mother called police for help that night. saying her son was suicidal and threatening their family. Investigator Anna Canzano examines the recordings from that chaotic scene, and the heartbreaking mistake they reveal.

Lukus Glenn had conquered high school as a three-sport varsity athlete, but on the night of September 15, 2006, he was lost and distraught. A long-time relationship had recently ended, and though his friends were headed to college, he was not.

By three in the morning, Lukus had returned home, drunk, dropped off by a friend. His family wouldn’t give him keys to a car, so he tried getting into a shed to get his dirt bike.

He then busts into the house through the front door, grabs this knife, and starts smashing car windows in the family’s driveway.

That’s when Hope Glenn calls 9-1-1.

Hope Glenn to 9-1-1: I need the cops to my house immediately. I have a son that’s out of control, busting our windows and has a knife and threatening us.

Police radio traffic reveals officers are preparing for a non-lethal confrontation, despite a dispatcher’s warning about Lukus’ threats as they head to the scene. One officer asked whether anyone with a bean bag gun was responding. Another officer says he grabbed one.

9-1-1 dispatcher to officers: Just be advised, he said he was going to run at you with a knife.

Once the officers arrive, the situation intensifies.

Officer: Get on the ground now, get on the ground.

Hope: He’s saying he kills himself or they kill him, he just wants to die tonight.

Less than four minutes later, the 9-1-1 call captures the Lukus’ final moments.

9-1-1 dispatcher: They don’t want to hurt him, they’re there trying to help.

Officer to dispatcher: Shots fire, I’ve got one down.

An officer on scene communicates this back to the dispatcher.

Officer to 9-1-1 dispatcher: Be advised, four beanbag rounds, no effect. He still has the knife. Be advised…we’ve got a couple people in the house. He ran towards the door, he’s on the ground, the knife is near him.

Which leads the dispatcher to comfort Hope with a mistaken relay of information, creating more confusion for the Glenn family about what’s actually happened.

9-1-1 dispatcher to Hope: Listen, what they’re doing is they shot him with bean bag rounds, okay?

Hope: But he’s laying on the ground bloody.

That exchange — that moment — is a key point of contention in the family’s lawsuit; why did that officer choose to communicate back that bean bag rounds were used, when he himself had just fired lethal rounds from his own service weapon? Was it an honest mistake? Confusion? Or was he trying to create a false narrative – that police tried to control Lukus Glenn with non-lethal force well before killing him with their bullets?

In the seconds that follow, it becomes clear, Hope’s only son is dying.

Police to dispatcher: We might need to get medical here, he’s probably had a couple shots to the back. We need medical code three, he took actual rounds. We’ve got shallow breathing, very shallow, slow breathing. Okay, he’s not breathing anymore.

A devastating reality no court ruling can undo.

Lukus’ mother is suing the Washington county sheriff’s office and its deputy. Trial is set to begin in three weeks. The officers involved have defended their actions – as being in line with their training – as actions taken to protect Lukus’ family given the threat he posed by turning and heading toward the home.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Rob Bletko later determined the use of deadly force was justified. None of the parties being sued agreed to comment for this report.

Lukus Glenn wrongful death trial opens in Portland’s federal court

From The Oregonian, August 21, 2012

Washington County deputies either acted appropriately according to their training or lied about events that led up to the fatal shooting six years ago of a Tigard-area teenager, according to opening arguments presented Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lukus Glenn.

The 18-year-old was shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies outside his home in 2006.

Attorneys introduced jurors to the federal court case by playing 9-1-1 and police dispatch tapes, recorded at 3:05 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called seeking help for her drunken, suicidal son.

In a roughly four-minute period, Hope Glenn tells the 9-1-1 operator her son is holding a knife, bleeding and threatening to kill himself. After law enforcement arrives, she pleads with the operator, “Please don’t let them shoot him.” By the end of the tape, her son is on the ground outside their Metzger home, and Hope Glenn says through tears, “They killed him.”

Deputies commanded Lukus Glenn to put down the blade he was holding to his neck. They told him not to move any closer to the house, where his parents stood just inside.

A Tigard police officer struck Glenn with five beanbag rounds. Deputies Timothy Mateski and Mikhail Gerba then opened fire, killing the teen almost instantly.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting justified and did not present it to a grand jury. After the Glenn family filed suit seeking more than $7 million, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman granted summary judgment in favor of the county and the deputies.

On appeal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the district court was not allowed to act as fact-finder on summary judgment and a jury should decide the case against the county and two deputies.

Attorney Larry Peterson, representing the family, said in his opening statements Tuesday the audio recording helped disprove the deputies’ “false narrative” about the incident.

Peterson said a Tigard police officer began firing rounds from a beanbag shotgun, but Gerba and Mateski had fired 11 lethal rounds before the last of six beanbags were shot.

The trial will answer the questions, Peterson said, of what happened in the minutes before Glenn’s death and why.

William Blair, attorney for the defendants, said in his opening statements that the deputies acted reasonably and followed their training when they shot the teen with lethal rounds to gain control of the scene.

The deputies agree, he said, that Lukus Glenn was not responsive when struck with beanbags.

“He stood there with a quizzical look on his face,” Blair said, “and then began charging toward the front door, where his parents stood with no protection because he’d already kicked in the door.”

The trial will center on analyzing the audio tapes, Blair said, which would support and explain the deputies’ actions. He urged jurors several times to “listen carefully.”

The trial before Judge Mosman continues Wednesday with witness testimony.

Friends of Lukus Glenn testify they hoped to calm deputies before his fatal shooting

From The Oregonian, August 22, 2012

Friends of Lukus Glenn, who witnessed deputies shoot and kill him outside his Metzger home in 2006, testified at his wrongful death trial in Portland’s federal court Wednesday.

Trial in the lawsuit filed against Washington County and two of its deputies continues Thursday before U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman.

Wednesday morning jurors heard from David Lucas, 25, and Tony Morales, 28, the friends Hope Glenn called in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2006, asking for help with her suicidal son.

Glenn wasn’t threatening others, they testified, when he was holding the small folding knife Lucas had given to him as a Christmas gift. They were not afraid of their friend and feared only that he might hurt himself.

Lucas and Morales had both spent time with Glenn the day before his death, noting that he seemed happy. The 18-year-old, recently graduated from Tigard High School, went to dinner with his new girlfriend and her parents that evening. The couple then went to a football game with Morales. Glenn, Lucas and Morales ended up at a party later that night.

Glenn arrived at the party with a bottle of rum and drank from it throughout the night, his friends testified. He left the party, planning to get his motorbike from home, asking someone else to drive him there — five minutes away.

Soon after, his mother called Lucas and Morales, hoping they could help calm him down. Glenn was telling his parents he wanted his bike or his keys. He was smashing windows and acting out of control, Hope Glenn told Lucas.

Lucas testified that he spoke to Glenn’s parents briefly when he arrived. Morales was already talking to Glenn in the neighbor’s yard, speaking softly, convincing him to leave the yard.

Both friends said they didn’t see a knife until Glenn returned to his family’s driveway, pulled it from his pocket and stabbed the garage door.

Glenn yelled at his parents, Lucas testified, “about something he’d been put through in the last few months,” and about wanting to die.

Glenn’s father, Morales and Glenn tussled briefly over the knife. As Glenn shoved the knife harder toward his own neck, they let go.

Morales, who had recently been honorably discharged after more than three years in the Marines, began negotiating with Glenn.

“I remember walking forward, outstretching my arms, saying to Luke, ‘If you’re going to stab anyone tonight, stab me. I know you don’t want to do that,’” Morales said.

Morales sank to his knees, he told jurors, and pleaded with Glenn, “I know you don’t want to hurt me as much as you don’t want to hurt yourself. Just put the knife away.”

Pausing as he became more emotional, Morales recalled Glenn’s response: “Tony, please, I don’t want you to be here for this.”

Morales replied, “Come on, bro, if I were in the exact same situation, you wouldn’t just leave me like this.”

Just after 3 a.m., Deputy Mikhail Gerba arrived, dispatched to the disturbance with a weapon reported to 9-1-1 by Hope Glenn. Lucas walked quickly toward the deputy, hoping to keep the situation calm, he testified.

Before Lucas reached him, Gerba stepped out of his vehicle with his gun drawn, Lucas said. He tried to tell Gerba that Glenn was by the garage and calming down, Lucas said.

Gerba ordered him to the ground, Lucas said, using profanities. He patted Lucas down and told him not to move as he approached the driveway.

Morales, still kneeling, heard shouting behind him. Gerba walked up the driveway, his duty weapon pointed at Glenn and Morales.

Gerba told Morales to get on the ground. Morales said he lay on his stomach and told the deputy Glenn was drunk and only wanted to hurt himself. He asked Gerba not to use lethal force.

Soon, Deputy Timothy Mateski arrived and joined Gerba’s side. Deputies shouted profanity-laced commands at Glenn, the friends testified. Glenn’s only response, they said, was, “Why are you yelling at me?”

Morales asked the deputies to “please just tase him.” Mateski told Morales to shut up, he said.

After a few minutes of the deputies shouting at Glenn to drop the knife, the friends watched him die.

They first saw another officer hit Glenn with a shotgun beanbag round. Glenn doubled over, took a couple of steps toward the house and grabbed his waistband with his left hand, as if trying to hold up his pants.

Beanbag rounds continued to fly and the deputies opened live fire. Within 11 seconds, Glenn was struck with five beanbag rounds and eight gunshots.

Lucas testified that Glenn had never mentioned suicide to him. Morales said he asked Glenn about suicide after he’d noticed bands that appeared to cover up cuts on his wrists.

Lucas said he knew that Glenn had recently broken up with a previous girlfriend, and he’d had some conflicts with one of his high school football coaches.

“I think it was just kind of weighing on him that summer,” Lucas testified.

Fatal shooting of Lukus Glenn not justified, expert witness testifies at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 23, 2012

Lukus Glenn

The lethal force police used on 18-year-old Lukus Glenn in 2006 was not justified, a police practices expert testified Wednesday in Portland’s federal court.

Donald Van Blaricom, a retired Bellevue, Wash., police chief who now works testifying in police-related litigation, appeared for the plaintiffs at the wrongful death trial against Washington County and two of its deputies.

Glenn’s family filed the lawsuit in 2008, following his Sept. 16, 2006, fatal shooting outside his Metzger home. The trial before U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman began Tuesday.

Police should have used a Taser instead of a beanbag shotgun and lethal force on the suicidal teen, Van Blaricom testified.

Though Glenn was armed with a small folding knife and was not following deputies’ commands, Van Blaricom said he was not posing an immediate threat to anyone at the scene.

Instead of trying to establish a dialogue with Glenn, Van Blaricom said, the deputies acted too quickly.

“The police are there to win, they’re not there to lose,” he told jurors.

But the force used on a subject has to a reasonable response to the circumstances, Van Blaricom said.

“If you were going to use any force,” he said, “the Taser would be the force to use.”

Van Blaricom testified he didn’t believe Glenn committed “suicide by cop.” The teen didn’t rush at officers, giving them no alternative but to use lethal force, he said.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting justified in 2006, but Van Blaricom criticized the investigation of the shooting and said it did not resolve inconsistencies.

“If you’ve got a bad shooting, just admit it, learn from it,” he said. “The guy’s dead, there’s nothing you can do for him. The goal is to prevent this from happening again.”

Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett was in the courtroom during the expert witnesses’ testimony Wednesday.

Lukus Glenn’s parents testify at wrongful death trial in the 2006 fatal police shooting

From The Oregonian, August 24, 2012

Lukus Glenn’s parents watched as police pelted the 18-year-old with beanbag rounds and riddled him with gunshots. When his body landed on their porch, they stared in horror through a picture window.

Brad and Hope Glenn, who are suing Washington County and two of its deputies over the 2006 fatal shooting, gave emotional testimony in his wrongful death trial this week in Portland’s federal court.

Brad Glenn, 49, told jurors he instructed his wife to dial 9-1-1 about 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, as they struggled to talk sense into their son, who was drunk, holding a pocket knife and threatening suicide.

“We need more people here,” he testified. “We need more assistance.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Mikhail Gerba was screaming commands and pointing his Glock when he approached the teen outside the family’s Metzger home, Brad Glenn testified. Deputy Timothy Mateski showed up next.

Brad Glenn said the deputies shouted at his son, “‘Drop the knife, you’re going to (expletive) die, we’re going to (expletive) kill you,’ over and over.”

His son asked the deputies to stop yelling.

“At one time, I told them to stop screaming at him,” he said. “Luke was begging us to make them stop screaming at him.”

Deputies had to order the parents to go into the house and close the door several times. Asked why he and his wife didn’t comply and stay inside, Brad Glenn said they were acting in response to the deputies’ actions.

“In my mind, they were out of control,” he said. “That’s how you respond to a suicidal kid, tell him you’re going to kill him? That’s wrong.”

Brad Glenn said he didn’t see another officer arrive, but a Tigard police officer with a beanbag shotgun joined the scene.

“He just popped out and started firing,” Brad Glenn said. “He’s getting shot with the beanbags … and it knocks him into the garage. He’s up against the garage, taking the hits.”

His son grabbed onto his pants and took a couple steps, he testified. The deputies fired live rounds, he said, just after the Tigard officer deployed the first beanbag shots.

“It all happened at the same time,” he said. “You could hear a few pops and then it was over.”

Lukus Glenn fell facedown, his hands palms-up behind him, Brad Glenn said. An officer approached the dying teen, still at gunpoint, and handcuffed him, he said.

More officers descended on the house after the shooting, Brad Glenn testified. They stayed for hours. It was daylight when they left.

“The last person there was a chaplain for Washington County,” he said. “They basically just left the place a mess with blood all over the place. There was blood all over the porch — it was everywhere.”

In the following days, he and Hope Glenn were distraught.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Their lives changed that day, he said. Their house is empty. The lifetime companionship he envisioned with his son is gone.

The emotional toll continues, unchanging, he said.

Of her husband, Hope Glenn testified, “He’s broken like I am.”

Crying, she told the jury, “We’re just sad. It never goes away.”

From the Oregonian, July 23, 2012

Disability Rights Oregon on Friday concluded an investigation critical of the prosecution of a mentally ill Aloha man, twice charged in the 1997 slaying of his ex-wife.

READ – what happened to Donn Spinosa
READ – “The Incarceration of D.S. – An Investigative Report” from Disability Rights Oregon, July 2012

The investigation questioned how the schizophrenic man “came to be held in Washington County Jail for months without treatment and then was committed to the Oregon State Hospital without legal authority even though the legal means existed.”

The advocacy group investigated the case of Donn Thomas Spinosa, 58, who was first charged in the killing of Kathleen T. Relay in 1997. He was found unable to aid and assist in his own defense; his charges were dismissed and he was civilly committed to the Oregon State Hospital.

Spinosa’s charges were refiled in 2010 after Washington County District Attorney Bob Hermann learned that the state hospital planned to release him. A judge again found him unable to aid and assist last year and returned him to the hospital on an order that Disability Rights Oregon says was not legal.

Among other findings, the advocacy group says in its report that Hermann’s re-indictment of Spinosa was “inhumane and wasteful”; laws and resources assuring Spinosa’s appropriate treatment were not used; and the state hospital made decisions “without clear standards, accountability or understanding of the treatment options available in jail” that led to Spinosa returning to jail after 14 years in the hospital.

The report concludes that Spinosa’s “unnecessary transfers back and forth between the state hospital and jail left him without adequate mental health treatment for long periods of time, with little or no justification.”

Responding to the report, Hermann said in an email, “This advocacy group has a role in the system and certainly a right to express its opinions. … In addition, advocacy and safety for the victims impacted by this murder remain a priority.”

Last October, when Judge Thomas Kohl dismissed the aggravated murder case against Spinosa, he signed an order for a “mental illness magistrate hold,” supposedly sending Spinosa to the state hospital indefinitely.

The order elicited ethics complaints in December, filed by retired Lane County Judge Jim Hargreaves. In complaints to the state bar against Hermann and defense attorney Robert Axford, Hargreaves said the law does not allow for the magistrate hold. He also filed a complaint with the judicial fitness commission against Kohl.

The state hospital asked Kohl to dismiss the order, which he did in May. In June, Spinosa’s civil commitment was renewed.

Disability Rights Oregon launched an investigation last year after reading about Spinosa’s case in The Oregonian. Bob Joondeph, the group’s executive director, said in December the organization wanted to know why a judge would skip the civil commitment process and impose an order that doesn’t exist within the law.

The investigation report concludes that Hermann, Axford and Kohl acted outside the law with the “mental illness magistrate hold.” The legislature makes law, the report says, and in Spinosa’s case, it was the attorneys and judge who “essentially created a new law that allows for a person with mental illness to be detained without the elements of due process.”

The investigation report lists several recommendations to address the problems the group identified.

“Changes are in order to assure that citizens are not punished for having a severe mental illness,” Joondeph said in a statement.

Among those, the group recommends that patients who have been previously found unlikely to regain capacity to assist in their own defense should not be re-indicted without further evaluation to see if they have regained ability.

The also group recommends a change in the law to permit notification to authorities when a patient who could be re-charged with a crime is being released from the hospital. But the law should not violate the defendant’s right to keep personal health information protected, the report says.

The report, which refers to Spinosa as “D.S.,” says Hermann and jail staff violated his privacy rights by providing information regarding his mental health and behavior in the state hospital.

Hermann defended the way Spinosa’s case has been handled, saying in an email, “The aggravated murder of Kathleen Relay remains an open case. Donn Spinosa remains the only suspect. Law enforcement continues to perform its role by keeping a close eye on Mr. Spinosa’s situation and progress to ensure that the public remains safe as well as Mr. Spinosa himself. … To date the public and Mr. Spinosa have remained safe.”

From the Oregonian, July 30, 2012

“Get off the property,” Jeffery David Anderson told his wife, Susan. Moments later, he fired his .22-caliber rifle toward the sky. Then again.

Susan Anderson was familiar with her husband’s erratic behavior. She had moved in with a friend for a few days after arguing with him, but, needing clothing, returned July 7 to the Aloha home the couple had shared for 30 years. Faced with another argument and the gun, she left.

An hour later, Jeffery David Anderson, 56, lay dying in the street, shot by Washington County sheriff”s deputies. Neighbors and deputies say Anderson had walked along Southwest 195th Avenue near his home, pointing his loaded rifle at passing vehicles, and ultimately at deputies.

His death, which came a few hours later at OHSU Hospital, is the latest chapter in a series of shootings by police agencies responding to mental health-related calls in the Portland metropolitan area.

For example, Washington County sheriff’s deputies in June fatally shot Robert Kimball Fox, 52, of Aloha, who authorities say was suicidal and had pointed a loaded rifle at deputies. Portland police officers in January fatally shot Brad Lee Morgan, 21, who officials said was threatening to jump off a downtown parking structure and eventually pointed a fake gun at officers.

Authorities responding to mental health-related calls — especially when weapons are introduced — must make split-second decisions in unpredictable scenarios, said Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett. Police can’t dodge bullets and de-escalate a situation simultaneously, he said.

“When you introduce a gun or weapon, that changes everything,” he said.

Jeffery Anderson was a severely depressed alcoholic who began pulling away from his wife and family during the past year. Susan Anderson described a pattern of unpredictable behavior. One moment, he apologized for his drinking. The next, he was angry.

His family struggled to deal with a husband, father, brother, who was spiraling into deeper depression and alcoholism. They loved him, but they didn’t know when or how to help. Now, his family says, they are stuck with a stark truth: It’s too late.

The night of the shooting, Susan Anderson sat in a detective’s car as she learned what happened to her husband.

“Never in my whole marriage would I have thought that…,” the 55-year-old later said, failing to complete the sentence as she started to cry. “Something in him snapped.”

For more than 15 years, Jeffery Anderson cleaned up spilled lunches and mopped floors as a custodian at Hillsboro’s Minter Bridge Elementary School. At his funeral, members of the school’s staff presented the family with a scrapbook of photographs and notes on colored paper about his helpfulness and warm personality.

The couple married 35 years ago, moving into their Aloha home five years later. They had two daughters, Sarah and Stephanie. Jeffery Anderson’s relationship with them, his wife said, could be rocky.

He loved to play with his five grandchildren, who knew him as “papa.” His sister, Kathy Milberger, 50, described her brother as a protector, and five years ago, she moved to Beaverton to be closer to him.

He enjoyed camping, trips to the coast and listening to music, especially Bob Marley. He wrote poetry.

He was a talker, but, at the same time, a loner. He pinched pennies and was a pack rat, stashing away belongings for years.

“It was hard for him to let go of things,” his wife said.

Sensitive and patriotic, Jeffery Anderson was deeply troubled by the state of America, what he saw as societal values in decline as banks and big business were on the rise. He sobbed when the first troops were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“He needed to push it away,” Susan Anderson said. “He didn’t like to hear about all the people dying all the time.”

He talked about the issues so much, she said, “It got to where I couldn’t listen anymore.”

In the past year, Jeffery Anderson’s drinking noticeably increased. He’d have beers at home in the evening, growing more and more depressed.

For at least a year, he was prescribed an anti-depressant, citalopram, but in the months before the shooting, he wasn’t taking it consistently.

“I always thought he’d snap out of it,” Susan Anderson said. “But he didn’t.”

She thinks her husband purchased the rifle about a year ago. Leading up to the shooting, Jeffery Anderson mentioned the weapon more frequently. He bragged about the gun, talked about how it worked and his need to protect his property.

Yet Susan Anderson never felt afraid. “I guess I should have been,” she said.

“He was dwelling on everything negative,” she said, growing emotional. “Instead of being grateful for how good our lives are.”

Milberger said her brother would sometimes mention suicide, but never talked specifically about hurting himself.

“He felt as if he was going to die young,” she said.

Two days before his death, Jeffery Anderson left work early and went home. When one of his daughters stopped by that day, he was intoxicated, his wife said. He behaved strangely, showing his firearm to his grandchildren.

“Something’s wrong with papa,” the children told their mother.

At home, his daughter reflected on her dad’s behavior, and called police to have deputies check on him. The sheriff’s office said deputies on July 5 responded to a report that Jeffery Anderson was suicidal.

Deputies talked with Anderson at his home and took him to a hospital for further treatment. Susan Anderson said she wasn’t aware of her husband making any suicidal statements.

Jeffery Anderson was taken to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, where he was evaluated and released four hours later, his wife said. Federal privacy laws prohibit the hospital from releasing when he was admitted and discharged, or the reasons for his release, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

After his release, Anderson was angry that police were called and he had been hospitalized.

That anger bled into the next days. On July 6, Susan Anderson tried calling him; he didn’t answer the phone. Milberger stopped by to check on her brother. She knocked. Nothing. She called. No answer.

She tried the door, and it was unlocked, she said. She found Jeffery Anderson asleep in bed.

Susan Anderson went to her home the next day, July 7. She tried to calm him down. “I kept saying Jeff, honey, I didn’t call the police,” she said.

Later that night, when she learned her husband had been shot and wounded, Susan Anderson broke down inside the detective’s car. Initially, authorities told her they thought Jeffery Anderson would make it, then they told her he had died.

Milberger interprets her brother’s actions that day as suicide by cop.

His wife and sister aren’t mad or bitter toward deputies. They hurt because they know that day changed everyone involved. Jeffery Anderson is gone. Life won’t be the same for his survivors or for the deputies who shot him.

They wanted to help their brother and husband. They wish the hospital had kept him longer. They wish they could have forced him to get help.

They were planning an intervention, but the fear that he would become enraged kept them from reaching out.

“Never wait that long,” Milberger said. “You need to catch something, intervene way sooner than we did.”

Aloha man fatally shot by Washington County deputies

From KGW.com, July 8, 2012

Deputies in Washington County fatally shot a man they said was armed with a rifle Saturday night in Aloha.

Several 911 callers reported a man with a gun wandering around on SW 195th Avenue, near SW Farmington Road, according to Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

“I looked out and sure enough there’s a guy standing there with a rifle,” neighbor Jim Briggs told KGW. “I watched him walk up and down the street a couple of times with it, so I went upstairs and called.”

The man was still there when deputies got there.

“At least two deputies arrived on the scene and encountered a 54-year-old man armed with a rifle,” Thompson said. “Within a few minutes of their arrival, two of the deputies fired at the armed suspect.”

Briggs said the man actually pointed his rifle at the deputies.

“He was standing behind this car,” Briggs said. “He pointed the gun at them and I heard two shots.”

Jeffery David Anderson, 56, of Aloha, was taken to a Portland hospital, where he died Sunday morning from injuries suffered in the shooting.

The deputies involved were placed on administrative leave. Additional details on the shooting were not available.

Washington Co. deputies fatally shoot man in Aloha

From KOIN.com

A man was shot by two Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies Saturday night in Aloha after reports the man had been walking down the street with a gun.

Officials said Jeffery David Anderson, 56, from Aloha, died Sunday morning at OHSU from his injuries.

Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, Sgt. Dave Thompson, said at 8:13 p.m. Saturday night calls started coming in about a man walking down Southwest 195th Avenue near Farmington Road in Aloha toting a gun.

Thompson said deputies were on scene within a few minutes and made contact with Anderson.

“It’s a warm night, this guy’s walking around with a gun and obviously we got a lot of phone calls about it,“ Thompson said.

Neighbors tell KOIN Local 6 they heard several gunshots follow by deputies telling them to stay inside their homes.

A witness said the deputies shot the man after he ignored their commands.

Officials would only confirm two deputies had been involved in the shooting, and said the suspect was the only one injured.

Thompson said the suspect was taken to OHSU but did not know his condition Saturday night.

Aloha man who was killed by deputies had aimed rifle at officers, a neighbor says

From the Oregonian, July 8, 2012

An Aloha man shot and killed by two Washington County sheriff’s deputies was described as unstable by a neighbor Sunday.

Jim Briggs called 9-1-1 Saturday night after a passing motorcyclist told Briggs’ mother-in-law to go inside Briggs’ house because the motorcyclist had seen a man carrying a gun down Southwest 195th Avenue. Others in the neighborhood had also called 9-1-1 about the man.

After securing his children in the back of the house, Briggs watched out his glass front door as his neighbor, Jeffery David Anderson, sat on the curb across from Briggs’ house and pointed a rifle toward cars driving along Southwest 195th Avenue south of Farmington Road.

He said Anderson, 56, who lived two doors down on the same side of the street, was talking to himself and seemed drunk. Then he saw Anderson aim the rifle at an area where neighborhood kids normally play in the road, although Briggs could not tell whether children were present.

At one point, Anderson sat down and took apart what Briggs described as an assault rifle with a banana clip, and then put it back together.

Deputies responded to Briggs’ call around 8:13 p.m., and according to police, several deputies arrived on the scene and confronted Anderson.

Within a few minutes of the deputies’ arrival, Briggs said, Anderson took aim at them, and two officers fired back.

Briggs said he heard the shots, which he described as “pops,” and saw Anderson lying on his back in the street.

He said the general feeling in his family was the man was “someone you didn’t want to mess with.”

He said Anderson would make “grumbling” noises at Briggs’ wife whenever she walked the dogs past his house.

After Anderson was shot he was taken to OHSU Hospital, where he died early Sunday, according to the Multnomah County medical examiner’s office.

The two deputies who shot Anderson were placed on paid administrative leave, according to Sgt. David Thompson, a Washington County sheriff’s spokesman.

Thompson declined further comment on the case, and said detectives and the county’s district attorney’s office will continue to investigate the incident.

Neighbor: Man shot by deputies was suffering from mental issues

From KATU.com, July 8, 2012

A 56-year-old man shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies later died of his injuries.

Jeffery David Anderson, of Aloha, died Sunday morning at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) after he had been shot Saturday night.

The incident began around 8:15 p.m. on Southwest 195th Avenue, just south of Farmington Road.

Deputies had responded there on a report of a man with a gun and within a few minutes of their arrival, they fired at the armed suspect.

No further details about what transpired in those minutes have been released but neighbors said the man had been threatening people.

“(He was) walking down the road with a rifle with a big clip and supposedly pointing the rifle at children,” said Ricky Glen, who lives in the area. “Very disturbed, obviously, shouting out different kinds of things.”

“They were telling him to get on the ground, so I guess he acted like he was getting on the ground,” Glen added. “(He) picked the rifle back up, pointed at the cops, pulled the trigger and the gun jammed. So the cops got lucky.”

The sheriff’s office said this was the second time they had been called to the man’s house within a few days but would not comment on what the previous incident was about.

Next-door neighbor Sherry Statler said deputies had also been called out there a few months ago and that Anderson had been struggling with mental issues lately, which is what led his family to call the sheriff’s office in the past.

“I heard depression,” she said. “I heard that he was on some medication and they were concerned that he had taken too much. It’s kind of sad because he was a great guy and he tried really hard to, you know, do right by his family and everything. I’m sorry to hear it went bad for him.”

“He was a great neighbor,” she added. “He was always caring for – when we’d go on vacation, he’d take out our garbage. He was always looking after our home.”

Statler said she also talked with Anderson’s wife, who only found out what had happened when she got home and came across the police scene.

“(She was) so upset and so surprised,” she said. “I mean, you could just see she had no idea it was going to go so badly for him.”

Anderson’s family was too upset to talk to the media on Sunday. They are still trying to figure out why he went out into the street with a gun in the first place.

The shooting remains under investigation and two deputies involved in the incident are on administrative leave.

Aloha man shot by deputies died of gunshot wound to chest, abdomen, according to medical examiner’s office

From the Oregonian, July 09, 2012

An Aloha man who was shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies Saturday night died of a gunshot wound to his right chest and abdomen, according to the state medical examiner’s office.

Jeffery David Anderson, 56, was pronounced dead early Sunday morning at OHSU hospital, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Two deputies fired at Anderson, who authorities say was armed with a rifle, but the sheriff’s office hasn’t released how many shots were fired or how many times Anderson was struck.

Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said deputies on Thursday responded to a call reporting that Anderson was suicidal. Deputies, Ray said, contacted Anderson at his home and they took him to a local hospital for further treatment. Ray wasn’t sure who called police during that incident.

Shortly before 8:15 p.m. Saturday, people began calling 9-1-1 reporting a man armed with a gun on Southwest 195th Avenue, south of Southwest Farmington Road, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

Anderson’s neighbor, Jim Briggs, said he called 9-1-1 Saturday night after a passing motorcyclist told Briggs’ mother-in-law to go inside Briggs’ house because the motorcyclist had seen a man carrying a gun down 195th Avenue.

Briggs said he watched out his door as Anderson, whom he described as unstable, sat on the curb across from Briggs’ house and pointed a rifle toward cars driving along 195th Avenue. He said Anderson, who lived two doors down on the same side of the street, was talking to himself and seemed drunk.

At least two deputies reportedly arrived shortly after the calls and found the man, armed with a rifle. Within a few minutes of the deputies’ arrival, Briggs said, Anderson took aim at them, and two officers fired back.

The sheriff’s office has not confirmed whether Anderson pointed the weapon at deputies. After Anderson was shot, he was taken to OHSU Hospital, where he later died.

The two deputies who shot Anderson were placed on paid administrative leave, Thompson said. They have not yet been identified, and Ray wasn’t sure when they will be interviewed.

The sheriff’s office is not releasing further information, citing the ongoing investigation, which is being conducted by the Washington County Major Crimes Team.

The shooting is the second deputy-involved shooting in Washington County this year. Last month, sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Robert Kimball Fox, 52, of Aloha, after authorities say he pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun.

52-year-old man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputy

From the Oregonian, June 3, 2012

READ – All stories on Robert Fox
READ – Washington County authorities investigating fatal officer-involved shooting in Aloha, Oregonian June 3 2012
READ – 52-year-old man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputy, KATU.com, June 3 2012

Neighbors of armed Aloha man fatally shot by sheriff’s deputy express shock about incident

Robert Kimball Fox

Neighbors of an Aloha man fatally shot by a Washington County sheriff’s deputy Sunday after authorities say he confronted deputies with a rifle described the man as friendly and quiet and expressed shock about the incident.

Robert Kimball Fox, 52, pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman. A sheriff’s deputy fired one shot, striking Fox, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office is not releasing where Fox was shot or the type of firearm the deputy used.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a man, armed with a gun, threatening suicide at his duplex home, in the 6700 block of Southwest 180th Avenue, Ray said. Fox reportedly came out of the home with the rifle and into the street, where he confronted four deputies. A deputy opened fire.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t released the name of the deputy who shot the man. The deputy, Ray said, is on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting, and will be interviewed Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t released information about who reported the original incident or if anyone else was inside the home at the time of the disturbance. The man’s wife was at the scene after the shooting, Ray said, but he wasn’t sure if she had come from inside the home.

The incident was the first officer-involved shooting in Washington County since Oct. 14, 2010. In March, members of the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team shot Adalberto Flores-Haro in North Portland, while they were helping the Portland Police Bureau.

On Sunday, Marilyn Hedlund, 69, who lives a few houses down from Fox in a duplex home on Southwest Monte Verdi Boulevard, was working in her upstairs office when she heard commotion.

“I heard the police say, ‘put down the gun, put down the gun,’” she said. “They were screaming.”

Hedlund looked out her window and saw a man pointing a gun toward the deputies, who were standing in the curve in Monte Verdi Boulevard, where the road turns into 180th Avenue, she said.

The deputies, she estimated, shouted commands for minutes. Then, she heard one shot. And the man fell.

“…I never thought I’d see anything like that in my life,” Hedlund said.

She can’t recall what happened next. “I was so shook up at that point,” she said.

After the shooting, she called a neighbor and told her to lock her door and stay inside. At some point, Hedlund said, an ambulance arrived at the scene.

Hedlund said authorities used yellow-and-black police tape to block 180th Avenue at Southwest Barcelona Way and along Monte Verdi Boulevard. Deputies, she said, also taped off intermittent areas of the scene, including where the body and gun were located. Investigators flooded the area.

“It was unbelievable,” she said. “It was just really unbelievable.”

Several neighbors said they didn’t know Fox well, but would say hello when they saw him. They described him and his family as quiet and friendly, and said they’ve lived in their home for multiple years.

On Monday afternoon, several people were gathered at Fox’s home, which has two small American flags decorating the yard. A woman who answered the door declined to comment.

Chelsea Haskell, 26, and Henry Condron, 28, have lived across the street from Fox for two years. The couple said they were shocked by the incident.

Haskell and Condron said their neighbor was friendly, always appeared happy and would compliment their yard, which has a bed of red, yellow, orange, purple and blue flowers.

“He was always really nice – he’d wave or give a thumbs up,” Condron said.

Carol Hilden, 67, who lives a few houses down from Fox’s residence, said she saw the man who was shot Sunday morning. The two exchanged greetings. Hilden said she asked her neighbor how he was doing, and he said, “great.”

“This is a tragic event — the neighborhood is a quiet neighborhood,” Hilden said. “I think it impacted all of us.”

Deputy identified in fatal officer-involved shooting in Aloha

From The Oregonian June 07, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has identified the deputy who shot and killed an Aloha man Sunday after authorities say the man pointed a rifle at deputies.

Deputy Brian McLeod, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, fatally shot 52-year-old Robert Kimball Fox Sunday afternoon, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman. Ray said that Fox pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at the deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun.

McLeod was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting.

McLeod, a member of the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team, was also involved in a shooting that injured a man at New Columbia in North Portland on March 13. Members of the Washington County team were helping the Portland Police Bureau. During that incident, McLeod and Hillsboro Officer Steven Slade reportedly fired from their handguns at Adalberto Flores-Haro and Washington County sheriff’s Deputy John Egg fired a less-lethal 40 mm grenade launcher.

Flores-Haro, 31, was shot three times – once in the forearm, and twice in the torso, when he came out the front door of his home holding a handgun to scare away what he thought were prowlers outside his home, his family said.

A Multnomah County grand jury last month cleared the involved officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

During Sunday’s incident, McLeod fired one shot, striking Fox, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office has not released where Fox was shot or what type of weapon McLeod used.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a man, armed with a gun, threatening suicide at the residence, in the 6700 block of Southwest 180th Avenue, Ray said. Fox reportedly came out of the home and into the street with the rifle, and the deputy opened fire.

The Washington County Interagency Major Crimes Team is continuing to investigate.

Deputy who shot and killed man involved in another shooting

From KATU.com, June 9, 2012 – UPDATED

KATU editorial note: A previous version of this story stated that the deputy was also involved in two other shootings. He was actually only involved in one other shooting. KATU regrets the error.

The Washington County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man last weekend in Aloha was also involved in another shooting, which is still fairly controversial based on what victims are claiming.

Deputy Brian McLeod has been with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for 12 years. He opened fire Sunday killing 52-year-old Robert Fox. Deputies say Fox came out of his house carrying a loaded high-power rifle and that he pointed it toward the deputies in a threatening manner. Fox was shot once and died at the scene.

McLeod was also part of the tactical negotiations team helping Portland police track down a gang member in the New Columbia neighborhood back in March. That resulted in McLeod and two other officers opening fire on Alberto Flores-Haro who came out of his house with a gun.

He wasn’t the man police were looking for and witnesses claim the officers never identified themselves as such. They say he was simply defending his home.

Flores-Haro is still in the hospital recovering from three shots to his stomach and arm.

A grand jury cleared all three officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

“It’s just unfortunate that there were two of them (shootings) that close together but police work and law enforcement in general you never know what the next few seconds holds,” said Sgt. Bob Ray, spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

McLeod has received two lifesaving awards from the sheriff’s office for people he helped while on duty.

Prior to these recent shootings, the sheriff’s office says he’s never pulled the trigger in another officer-involved shooting.

There is a lot McLeod will have to do before returning to patrol, including seeing a psychologist, and running through scenarios similar to the shooting he was involved in.

He’d been back on patrol for roughly two months since the March shooting. He’s now on paid leave again as part of standard procedure for what happened last weekend.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is still facing a $7 million federal lawsuit for the 2006 shooting death of Lukas Glenn.

It’s one of 34 lawsuits filed against the agency since 2005 but only eight are still open cases. Two of them resulted in settlements for less than $80,000 total. Another 24 were thrown out.

We include this news story in our archive because of our continuing interest in persons routinely harmed by the police in the Portland area and concern that most of these persons are impaired by mental illness or addiction. There is no indication from the public record that Adalberto Flores-Haro was impaired in any way.

From The Oregonian, May 12, 2012

A Multnomah County grand jury Friday found no criminal wrongdoing by members of Washington County’s Tactical Negotiation Team in their March 13 shooting of Adalberto Flores-Haro at New Columbia in Portland.

Alberto Flores-Haro, 31, was shot by police and collapsed at his doorway on March 13. He had grabbed a handgun, thinking there was an intruder on his property. It turned out to be members of a Washington County tactical

But the Portland Police Bureau is continuing an investigation into whether Flores-Haro should face any criminal charges, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.

Flores-Haro, 31, was shot three times – once in the forearm, and twice in the torso, when he came out the front door of his home holding a handgun to scare away what he thought were prowlers outside his home, his family said.

Flores-Haro’s attorney Michael Rose said he was “disappointed, but not surprised,” by the grand jury ruling, considering how rare it is for an officer to face criminal charges for use of force. But he said he’s disturbed that police would consider bringing criminal charges against his client.

“To see him being the target or subject of further investigation is sort of outrageous,” Rose said.

Yet police and attorneys for two of the officers involved suggested Friday that Flores-Haro pointed the gun at them and fired. No police reports or grand jury transcripts were released, because of the pending inquiry.

“Investigators have evidence suggesting Flores-Haro fired at officers and are continuing the investigation,” Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said.

Brian McLeod, a 12-year member of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Hillsboro Officer Steven Slade, an 11-year member of his department, fired their handguns. Washington County sheriff’s deputy John Egg, a 14-year member of the sheriff’s office, fired a less-lethal 40 mm grenade launcher, at Flores-Haro. They were huddled together beside another home, across from Flores-Haro’s front door, about 30 feet away, their lawyers said.

“It’s pretty clear he not only raised a gun at them but fired,” said Portland attorney Jim McIntyre, who represents McLeod.

“They responded to a lethal threat,” said Portland attorney Mark Makler, who represents Egg. Egg tried to use the less-lethal 40mm weapon in a lethal way, by aiming at Haro’s head, Makler said. He missed.

Flores-Haro’s stepson, Daniel Ibarra, 17 told The Oregonian that Flores-Haro did not know that the men surrounding his home in the 9500 block of N. Woolsey Avenue were authorities approaching to raid a home two doors away from his home.

Flores-Haro’s lawyer said his client was shot by officers “dressed in black, skulking around the neighborhood” who didn’t identify themselves, and then left him suffering from wounds outside his residence for about 10 minutes before getting him help. Rose also said he thought Flores-Haro’s gun was unloaded.

Flores-Haro did not testify before the grand jury because of the pending investigation into his actions. His wife, Alma Granados Millan and her son did testify, Rose said.

Flores-Haro may suffer permanent damage to his arm, Rose said.

Yet the officers’ attorneys said their clients identified themselves as law enforcement. Makler said the largest of the three officers, Slade, was screaming that they were the police or from the sheriff’s office. The three officers have returned to regular duty.

The District Attorney’s office said no transcripts of the grand jury proceeding would be released because a death didn’t occur and pending charges are possible.

READ – Hillsboro officer and two WCSO deputies identified who were involved in March 13 shooting in Portland, March 23, 2012
READ – Man shot by Washington County tactical officers was armed, thought intruder was on his property, family said, March 14, 2012
READ – Police investigating North Portland shooting during ‘active tactical incident’, March 13, 2012