Police seek help identifying violent rioters in Portland
Protesters who smashed windows, burglarized businesses and set fires during demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, caused significant damage, and authorities urged downtown businesses to review security video to help police apprehend more rioters.
Police said they have arrested four people so far after declaring a riot Friday night during demonstrations after police fatally shot a man while responding to reports of a person with a gun.
“This destruction does not align with community values and has no legitimacy. It is harming our city, county and state,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement Saturday. “There are multiple criminal investigations underway to identify those responsible for last night’s criminality.”
Police said they are aware of plans for more demonstrations Saturday night in Oregon’s largest city.
Officers late Friday dispersed the crowd so firefighting crews could douse fires before they spread in extreme fire hazard conditions. In a statement, police said the damage from the late-night violence “appears to be significant.”
There aren’t yet exact estimates of damages to buildings caused by the fires, but police say looters stole about $2,000 worth of products from a Nike store before on-site security personnel were able to stop the theft.
The vandalism downtown came after the police shooting earlier Friday and was part of vigils and demonstrations already planned for the night in the name of people killed in police shootings nationwide. They include 13-year-old Adam Toledo of Chicago and Daunte Wright, a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb.
On Saturday afternoon, Portland police identified the man shot by police in a city park Friday as Douglas Delgado, 46. Delgado died of a single gunshot wound, authorities said. Two officers fired a 40 mm device that shoots nonlethal projectiles, and one officer — an eight-year veteran — fired a gun, police said in a statement. He is on paid administrative leave, authorities said.
Authorities also clarified that the person who was fatally shot by police was not a person experiencing mental distress whose behavior prompted calls to police, as was previously reported. That man, who witnesses say was walking shirtless in traffic, was taken to a hospital for treatment of a possible drug overdose, according to police.