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Law Enforcement in Oregon Break Record for
Most Deadly Force Incidents in a Year
At Least 40 Shootings Makes More than Previous High Number in 2018

When Portland Police shot at a man who was setting a car on fire on November 7 (see Shootings article), it was the 37th deadly force incident involving law enforcement in the state in 2022.* Five days later, a shooting in Salem made 2022 the year with the most officers using deadly force since Portland Copwatch (PCW) began tracking statewide incidents in 2010. The previous record of 37 was set in 2018.** The Portland Police account for nine of what are now 40 incidents (23%). Twenty-two incidents ended in deaths, which at 55% is closer to the average rate of 56% than we reported in recent issues in 2022. Here are the details on the ten incidents since our last issue which occurred outside of Portland, where the PPB shot three people and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office shot one during the same time period.

--On December 10, an unnamed Brookings Police officer shot and killed an unidentified person following a vehicle pursuit (Curry Pilot, December 12).

--On November 12, Salem Police Corporal Joshua Baker engaged in a shooting with three men suspected of stealing cars. Two were identified as 19 year olds named Darren Shelton and Vincent Nesbitt (Associated Press, November 23). No hits were reported, but neighbors expressed alarm at the gunfire happening near North Salem High School (KGW-TV8, November 14).

--On October 6, Hillsboro Police Officer Russ Jewell shot and wounded Patrick Robertson, 40, after Robertson allegedly broke into two different homes and pointed a gun at officers (Oregonlive, October 7 and KOIN-TV6, October 20).

--Also on October 6, unnamed Gresham officers responding to gunshots fired at a hotel shot at Joseph Carrillo, 24, when he allegedly pointed a gun at them. A medical team confirmed that Carrillo was not hit by bullets (Oregonlive, October 7).

--On September 20, five unnamed officers from Oregon State Police and three from the Josephine County Sheriff's Office shot and killed Rock Jordan, whose age has not been revealed, north of Grants Pass. Jordan fired a gun at a woman whose car he stole, as well as the police. An Oregon State Police Sergeant also rammed the vehicle to stop Jordan from driving away (KOBI-TV5, October 31).

--On September 19, Grants Pass Police Officer Micaila Miguel shot and killed Mark Caldwell, 46. Caldwell lives near a park where police were looking for a suspect, and apparently came out of his home armed with a shotgun, then was mistakenly shot by police. Though Caldwell was taken to the hospital, he did not survive the wounds (KDRV-TV12, October 27 and family obituary).

--On September 18, an unnamed officer of the Umatilla Tribal Police shot and killed Jeremiah Johnson, 39, a tribal member who was involved in a domestic disturbance near Adams and allegedly confronted police with a weapon (East Oregonian, September 22). This was the second incident with the Tribal police in two months (see below for an update on the August shooting).

--On September 12, Lane County Sheriff's Deputies Lukas Thomas and Arik Schenfeld shot and killed Robert Harris, 50, at a home daycare center near Springfield. The media reports deputies took seven children out of the home where Harris had barricaded himself in with a hostage, a woman who suffered a gunshot wound. It is not clear whether the deputies or the man shot her (Eugene Register Guard, September 23).

--On August 23, McMinnville Police Officer Justin Schwartz shot and killed Laurence Dickson, who was reportedly suicidal and "confronted" police when they arrived (Oregonlive, August 24 and August 29).

--On August 19, Hillsboro Police Lt. Neil Potter shot and wounded Jose Juan Aguilar-Mandujano, 20, when the latter was allegedly trying to wrest the officer's gun away (Oregonlive, August 26).

Also:

--The August 17 incident with Umatilla Tribal Police in Pendleton (PPR #87) led to the wounding and arrest of Javier Francisco Vigil, 51, when he allegedly tried to rob the Wildhorse Resort and Casino (Tri-City Herald, August 23). Jail information identifies Vigil as Latino. The involved officer's name has still not been released.

--In a highly unusual incident, Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Zane Hafeman stabbed Joshua Wesley, 24, multiple times in the emergency room at a Hillsboro hospital when Hafeman allegedly tried grabbing the deputy's gun (KGW-TV8, November 1).

*- in PPR #87 we reported the number was 27 by mid- August, when it was actually only 26; PCW regrets the error.
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**-PCW letter to the Attorney General, Feb 2022: portlandcopwatch.org/OR_shootings_letter0222.pdf.
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January, 2023
Also in PPR #88

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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