Portland Police: Man shot by officers was armed, suicidal

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Portland police say a man shot by officers Thursday night had a gun and reportedly threatened to commit suicide.

Sgt. Pete Simpson says 9-1-1 dispatchers were called about a 56-year-old man in southeast Portland who was suicidal. Officers found him in a vehicle and began talking with him.

Simpson says the man then got out of the vehicle and the ensuing encounter led two officers to shoot him.

The man was taken to a Portland hospital in critical condition. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

The officers are on paid administrative leave until the end of the investigation and grand jury review.

Earlier Thursday, police fatally shot an armed robbery suspect in northeast Portland.

Simpson says officers responded to a report of an armed robbery at Portland Value Inn. The suspect was a few streets away when he was shot.

Simpson says no officers were injured.

The suspect’s name and additional details about the shooting were not immediately released.

KGW reported the shooting happened in the 8300 block of Northeast Hancock Street during a search for a suspect in an armed robbery reported earlier Thursday at the motel on Northeast 82nd Avenue.

A desk clerk at the Portland Value Inn told KGW’s Maggie Vespa that the suspect robbed a man sleeping in his car at about 7 a.m.