PORTLAND, Ore. — The suspect in the fatal shooting of Legacy Good Samaritan security officer Bobby Smallwood, who fled and was shot and killed by police later in the day, has been identified as PoniaX Kane Calles, formerly known as Reginald Kane Jackson. Gresham police confirmed his identity Monday afternoon.
Calles had threatened staff at the hospital in recent days, according to The Oregonian. The paper was the first to report his identity and also reported that the 33-year-old Portland resident changed his name in 2019, and that he has a lengthy criminal history, mostly under the prior name.
He came to Oregon from California in 2012, the Oregonian reported, and his arrest history there includes a history of mental illness.
A friend of Calles also confirmed his identity; Jay Freedman told KGW that Calles asked him for a ride on Saturday and he agreed, not realizing that Calles was a suspect in the hospital shooting or that police were chasing him — until police caught up with them in Gresham.
According to court documents obtained by KGW, 31-year-old Ashley Heil had been in a relationship with Calles since 2012. She filed a restraining order against him on April 21 this year. In June, the order was dismissed after she failed to appear in court. She did not have an active restraining order against Calles when he opened fire in the Legacy maternity ward on Saturday.
The documents show that Heil suffered from domestic violence at Calles' hands. In filing for the April restraining order, she said that Calles threatened to "punch the baby out of her stomach." On another occasion, she said, he put her in a chokehold and grabbed her arm, leaving a bruise.
Child welfare services also got involved with the couple's children after allegations that Calles physically abused their 8-year-old daughter. Heil filed for temporary custody of their children.
Heil said that Calles had "anger problems" and asked the court to force him to move out and prohibit him from possessing or purchasing any guns. She said he had two handguns and a rifle.
But the allegations against Calles go back even further. Court documents dating back to 2019 show that someone else filed a stalking protective order against Calles, who was homeless at the time. They said Calles threw explosives outside of their home and pointed a gun at them. This was dismissed by a judge three months later.
On Sunday, Heil set up a GoFundMe asking for support in the wake of Calles' death.
"He didn’t get the help he needed, which in turn caused myself and my children to suffer," she said in part. "As a newly single mother, this is so hard."
Saturday shooting
Portland police were called to the hospital in Northwest Portland just before 11 a.m. Saturday on a report of a person with a firearm. When they arrived, they were told that shots had been fired, and the medical center was put on lockdown while they searched for a suspect.
After about 20 minutes, they learned that a security officer had been shot and hospital staff were providing treatment at the Emergency Room. The shooting happened on the 5th floor, near the birthing center, police said. The security guard, identified as Bobby Smallwood, died at the scene.
A Legacy employee was also hit by shrapnel and injured, the hospital said in a statement. They were treated and released Saturday.
Police learned that the suspect had fled the scene, and they set up a perimeter in the surrounding neighborhood to locate him. The Fred Meyer near Providence Park was evacuated and searched at one point after police received a tip that the suspect might have gone inside, but they didn't find him.
Police later found the suspect in Gresham Saturday afternoon, catching up with him in a car near a U.S. Bank parking lot. Police said there was a standoff followed by a confrontation in which three Portland police officers fired at the suspect, killing him.
On Aug. 7, Portland police identified the three officers involved in the fatal shooting of the suspect as Justin Thurman, a 16-year veteran, Timothy Hoerauf, a 12-year veteran and Seth Wingfield, a seven-year veteran. The officers remain on administrative leave, per department policy.
