2 arrested after fatal officer-involved shooting in southeast Portland

Joelle Jones and Danny Peterson

52 minutes ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After a fatal An officer-involved shooting occurred in Portland’s Hazelwood neighborhood Monday nightPolice said they made two arrests at the scene where it all happened.

According to the Portland Police Bureau, the suspect in a suspected armed robbery fired shots at police, who then returned fire. The suspect was shot by police and died, but his identity was not released.

Additionally, two other people were arrested at the scene: 21-year-old Paige E. Smouse and 22-year-old Kristian M. Nelson-Trout. Smouse is charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery and hindering prosecution. Nelson-Trout was arrested for a probation violation. Both were lodged in the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Police said officers were serving a search warrant at a home at Southeast 124th Avenue and East Burnside Street early in the evening when the shots rang out. This was in connection with a suspected robbery that occurred just after 9 a.m. Monday at a store in the 11100 block of Northeast Halsey Street.

KOIN 6 News spoke with a neighbor who lives right around the corner from the scene of the shooting. She said the situation was frightening and the house in question was well known to police. PPB declined to confirm this detail as the initial investigation is still ongoing.

“They started yelling through the megaphone, ‘Everyone in the building, come out with your hands up, we’re going to use chemical weapons and then we’re going to start firing shots,'” said Dana Phillips, a neighbor who witnessed the ordeal . “I thought, ‘No, we keep going, we might get shot.'”

Phillips said she and her son almost stumbled into the action on their way home Monday night and watched as the SWAT team, guns drawn, tried to serve a warrant at the home in the 100 block of Southeast 124th Avenue.

“I was in the middle of dinner when I heard gunshots,” Phillips said.

Around 6:30 p.m., police said a man inside the home pointed a gun at officers and began shooting, prompting police to return fire. They met the suspect, who died a few minutes later despite life-saving efforts.

“It’s always a tragedy when we lose a life,” said PPB Chief Bob Day.

Officials said none of the officers involved were injured and all four are now on paid administrative leave, per standard protocol.

Day said PPB is committed to a transparent process for this officer-involved shooting.

The case is still pending and police said they are currently investigating whether the alleged armed robbery is connected to other similar crimes in the area, standard procedure for this type of investigation.