“He’s schizophrenic and bi-polar,” Lee said. “He has mental issues.”
Cell phone video showed the man that Lee knows as “Lane” walking the streets of southeast Portland with an ax. Lee had bumped into him just prior to this as he was trying to head into the DHS office near 122nd and Glisan.
“I guess I gave him a cigarette, but he wanted me to stay with him,” Lee said. “But he is going through an episode. That was all it was.”
The DHS office sits very close to the old Safeway where the man was accused of trying to break into a car with an ax.
Lee says his friend seemed to think the security guard was out to get him. He reportedly tried to tell him he was having a crisis. “I told the security guard, ‘Man he’s schizophrenic, bipolar man, he’s just having an episode.’ Like that. The security guard… he didn’t respond to me.”
As lee went into DHS, officers arrived. Different witnesses captured video of him with the ax.
When police got to the scene, acting Sergeant David Kemple and Officer Nicholas Bianchini fired the less-lethal rounds.
Witness Timothy Allen said, “He was just basically walking with the ax in his hand, trying to get away from the police.”
Witnesses say he took off toward the ash street courtyard apartments.
A neighbor there believed he dropped the ax somewhere else before police cornered him in the complex and fatally shot him.
Lee says he later learned the tragic result. “When I came out of the DHS office, I asked the security guard, hey what happened to him? He said they shot him. I said, “You didn’t tell the cops what I said to you, he was schizophrenic, bi-polar.’ He said ‘no’ and he walked off.”
Portland police say they are conducting an internal review. The police review board is also taking a look at the case.
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