By Chris Menahan
Portland police late Thursday night issued a statement clarifying that the person they allegedly shot in the back while he was running from them “armed” with a screwdriver outside a motel in Northeast Portland was white and not a person of color as antifa had claimed.
Portland Police had to issue a tweet clarifying that the person shot today in NE Portland was white after antifa said it was a person of color. Antifa & far-left protesters have gathered at the scene to confront police based on the racial rumor. https://t.co/B4dJ71S5yF
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 25, 2021
There is erroneous information being circulated on social media regarding in the officer involved shooting in the Lloyd district. We can confirm that the subject involved is an adult white male. No one else was injured.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 25, 2021
Their statement also seemed aimed at quelling protests:
We are in the early stages of the investigation. PPB appreciates the community’s patience as we gather information. @ChiefCLovell is on scene.
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 25, 2021
Nothing to worry about folks, we just killed a white guy!
It appears Portland police also leaked to the Oregonian that the officer who did the shooting was black.
Man shot by police is white . He was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Officer who fired shots is Black.
— Maxine Bernstein (@maxoregonian) June 25, 2021
Protesting may actually have been valid in this case as the Oregonian reported that a witness told them the white victim was shot in the back by the black police officer while running from police:
A Portland police officer shot a man after he came at the officer with a screwdriver outside a Motel 6 near the Oregon Convention Center on Thursday evening, sources say.
Police initially were called to the Northeast Holladay Street motel on a report of a suicidal man. They met the man in the area of the lobby, according to sources with knowledge of the shooting who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The man went back to his room at one point, but police were later talking to him outside. Two officers were asking him whether he wanted to be taken to a hospital.
Police eventually told the man they needed to pat him down before he got into an ambulance. The man became agitated and came at an officer with a screwdriver, according to sources.
The man appeared to have a weapon in his hand, said Kalli Temple, who lives across the street from the motel and watched the scene unfold from her window. Police approached him and looked as if they were trying to get him to drop it, she said.
But he ran from them, Temple said.
An officer then shot the man from about 8 to 12 feet away as he fled toward the nearby Kaiser Permanente Park, she said.
The officer is Black, a source said. The man is white, according to police.
The man was taken to a hospital, and his condition wasn’t immediately clear. Temple said it appeared he had been having a mental health crisis.
No officers were hurt.
Did Portland police just try to quell criticism of a potentially unjust shooting just by playing the race card?
There was a similar case in Minnesota back in April where the police seem to have tipped the media and protesters off that a carjacker they shot and killed was a white man.
Is this the new normal?
This article originally appeared on Information Liberation.
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