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'Our safety is in jeopardy': Grand jury transcripts in homeless shelter killing released

Read the full Grand Jury transcripts that cleared the six officers involved in the deadly shooting of John Elifritz at a Portland homeless shelter.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A grand jury found that six Portland police officers were justified in using deadly force against 48-year-old John Elifritz, after the man was shot and killed at a Southeast Portland homeless shelter in April.

On Monday, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office released the full Grand Jury transcripts that cleared the six officers involved.

On Day 2, the grand jury heard testimony from officer Chad Phifer, who fired two rounds at Elifritz.

"I felt like my safety as well as the people standing next to me, our safety is in jeopardy," Phifer said. "You know, I -- I felt -- you know, this subject has made homicidal threats to kill people. He's threatened somebody involved in this situation. He's armed. I believe he's high on drugs and I felt my danger as well as the -- the danger of the officers standing next to me, he's coming at us with a knife."

Pfifer explained that when officers entered the shelter, Elifritz was too far away for officers to use a taser.

"He was deeper in the room than a Taser cartridge would be effective at," Pfifer said. "And he was also wearing, like, a -- a rain jacket, which clothing restricts those. Those are barbed Taser cartridges. They -- they have to penetrate the skin. And so if you have thick jackets on or clothing like that, oftentimes the barbs will get stuck in that and they won't necessarily penetrate the skin."

Pfifer said Elefrits went behind a wall at the shelter, and then came out at the officers. "And, at that point, I -- I raised my rifle and I fired two rounds," he said.

Read the full transcripts here:

On May 25, Portland police released their case files and video from the shooting.

Read the case files here

In the files, police pieced together the complete timeline of events involving 48-year-old John Elifritz on April 7, from the moment police first made contact with him that afternoon to the shooting.

Police said officers first encountered Elifritz at about 2:30 p.m., after he apparently called 911 and reported his family had been murdered:

“Officers responded to the location, which was a duplex under construction. The contractor at the location said a man (described as Elifritz) had been outside earlier and appeared to be acting in a bizarre manner. No one was found inside the duplex. Police later confirmed Elifritz’s family was safe.

“Other officers located Elifritz at Southeast 86th Avenue and Southeast Holgate Boulevard and attempted to contact him, but he backed away from them, retrieved a knife from his pocket and held it up to his throat. Elifritz ran from officers and a decision was to de-escalate the situation by not pursuing him, but rather make a referral to the Bureau’s Behavioral Health Unit for follow-up.”

That night, police said Elifritz crashed a stolen car in Southeast Portland at about 7:30 p.m. Officers found Elifritz inside Cityteam Ministries, a shelter that offers homeless services, about a block away from the crash.

When officers arrived at the shelter, witnesses said Elifritz was stabbing himself with a knife.

A man who who took video of the shooting, and two other unidentified witnesses told The Oregonian the suspect came into the facility and was slashing and stabbing himself with a knife. The witness said officers first fired rubber bullets or bean bags at the suspect, but that didn't stop him. They said he lunged at officers with the knife in his hand and that's when officers opened fire. Elifritz died at the scene.

Timeline: Carjacking suspect shot, killed by Portland police officers

Video released by police shows Elifritz charging toward officers when they shot him.

Watch: Raw video of the shooting (Warning: Graphic)

Elifritz was married and had a 12-year-old daughter. Elifritz’s family has filed a civil suit against the city and the six officers for using excessive force.

“There’s nothing I can do to bring him back. But maybe if we all stand together, another family won’t have to go through this,” his wife said.

The ACLU of Oregon questioned the use of force the day after the shooting.

“Bystander video of the fatal shooting of a man in a homeless shelter in Portland last night raises serious questions about how police handled the situation and whether lethal force was called for. Trained police officers should use the least amount of force necessary,” said David Rogers from the ACLU. Read the full statement here.

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