Suspect in Shooting of Two Portland Police Officers Remains on the Loose

PORTLAND, Oregon -- Portland police are asking for the public’s help to find the suspect who allegedly shot and wounded two Portland Police Bureau officers Monday.

One of the officers has been released from the hospital, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. The other remained hospitalized as of late Tuesday afternoon, as police continued to investigate.

“We’re taking in all tips right now,” said Deputy Chief Chris Gjovik at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “We’re following up on all of them.”

The events that led to the shooting began when the two officers responded at 8:21 p.m. Monday to a call in Northeast Portland reporting that someone was threatening the caller with a knife, police said at a news conference Tuesday. When the officers were dispatched to the scene, they had no indication that the man may have been armed with anything more dangerous than a knife, police said.

The suspect has been described as a white man in his 30s with facial hair, a black baseball cap, a black jacket and a gray hooded sweatshirt. The officers found him on Northeast Clackamas Street between 16th and 17th avenues. He shot at them almost as soon as they found him, Gjovik said at the news event Tuesday. Then the man fled on foot.

One officer was hit twice, the other was hit once, police said. Both were taken to an area hospital by ambulance and were recovering and in stable condition.

Police at the shooting scene tried to block the man’s escape but he was able to get away. The Police Bureau used a special emergency reaction team, a crisis negotiation team, an air support unit, drones and a K9 to try to find him, all to no avail.

Police combed several blocks near the Lloyd Center overnight and asked people who lived in the area to stay inside their homes with their doors locked. The manhunt was suspended early Tuesday morning, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner said.

Shootings of Portland police officers have been incredibly rare, particularly fatal ones. Gjovik, the deputy police chief, expressed gratitude Tuesday that the shooting didn’t result in an even more serious outcome.

“Both of the injured officers were incredibly fortunate,” Gjovik said. “One inch can make all the difference when you’re dealing with gunshot wounds, and the outcome could have been far worse.”

The bureau did not identify the officers but said that the one who has been released from the hospital has worked for the bureau for seven years and the other one who was still hospitalized had worked with with the bureau for 17 years.

The suspect isn’t known to be an immediate threat to anyone, though he is presumably still armed, police said.

Police have asked anyone who knows something about the suspect to reach out to them via email at [email protected] or via phone at 503-823-0479.

Police have also asked that anyone with a doorbell camera who lives in the area of Northeast 15th Avenue to Northeast 19th Avenue and Northeast Broadway to Northeast Multnomah Street share with police all footage saved to their systems from 7 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Elmar Ejupovic, who moved to Northeast Multnomah Street in October, said his wife had just put their 3-month-old baby to bed when police swarmed the neighborhood on Monday night. The pair heard helicopters and could see drones from their windows. It spooked Ejupovic, who is from Germany and said he’d never experienced anything like it.

“It was a really scary feeling,” Ejupovic said. “Like, ‘Oh my god, what if he sneaks into the backyard?’”

Paul Petillo, 68, woke up at 3 a.m. Tuesday when his home alarm system showed him several heavily armed police officers and a dog searching his yard near Northeast 19th Avenue and Northeast Clackamas Street.

Petillo, who has lived in the neighborhood for 41 years, said he still feels pretty secure in his house even as the suspect remains at large.

“We’re in one of those neighborhoods where people pass through,” Petillo said of the area just east of the Lloyd Center mall. “I don’t even know why he was in the neighborhood. I’d never seen him before.”

Shootings of Portland police officers that result in injury or death are exceedingly rare.

The last time a Portland police officer was shot and wounded on duty was Aug. 27, 2021. K9 Mick was shot and killed in April 2016, and Officer Kirk Huffstelter was killed in a car crash while responding to a call in May 2002. Officer Colleen Waibel was shot and killed Jan. 1998.

In response to a request for comment, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s office referred reporters to statements he made at the news conference Monday.

“This is a stark reminder of the dangers of the job,” Wilson said at the time. “The jobs that our officers go out every day to serve and protect our community that we’re grateful for.”

Both officers had spouses and children have been affected by the shootings, Portland Police Bureau’s union president, Sgt. Aaron Schmautz said, declining to go into further details about the officers’ family situations.

Schmautz credited the mayor with attending the press conference Monday evening, a national holiday. Schmautz was heartened by the response from some elected officials, including five city commissioners who he said called him after the shooting and “expressed concern” for the injured officers, but was disappointed that seven did not call.

“I think very often, people forget that police officers are human beings,” Schmautz said.

“No matter what is going on, we have to keep going,” he said. “It is just very difficult.”

Oregonian reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Tatum Todd contributed.

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