PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland police officer shot a man in Downtown Portland on Friday night near Southwest 12th Avenue and Jefferson Street, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported. The man was released from the hospital Saturday morning and is expected to survive.
Central Precinct officers responded to Southwest 13th Avenue and Jefferson Street where a 911 caller had reported that a man was chasing people with a knife. The first officer who arrived on scene located a man matching the description from the 911 call and in the ensuing encounter, the officer shot and injured the man, according to PPB.
A police spokesperson told KGW that because this is an active investigation and detectives are still locating and interviewing witnesses, they cannot confirm if the man had a knife when he was shot.
The man who was shot, Jeremy J. Rieck, 45, was treated and released from the hospital, PPB reported Saturday morning.
Rieck was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Saturday morning and is facing charges of second-degree attempted assault, unlawful use of a weapon and a parole detainer.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure for PPB.
The shooting happened around 6:07 p.m., blocks away from where road closures were set up for President Biden's arrival later Friday night.
An out-of-town couple witnessed the incident and told KGW they heard a loud commotion. The couple said the man who was shot appeared to have been walking away from police, then they heard a single gun shot. The man appeared to have been hit in the arm, according to the couple.
No officers were injured, PPB said.
During the investigation, Southwest 12th Avenue was closed between Columbia Street and Madison Street and Southwest Jefferson Street was shut down between 11th Avenue and 13th Avenue.
PPB is asking any witnesses who may have information regarding the circumstances of the shooting to contact Detective Calvin Goldring at Calvin.Goldring@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-0256 or Detective Tony Merrill Anthony.Merrill@police.portlandoregon.gov 503-823-4033 and reference case number 22-276387.
As of Oct. 12, there have been 1,031 confirmed shootings in Portland, including 313 people injured in shootings. Portland has been grappling with an ongoing increase in violence over the past few years. According to a PPB shooting incident statistics dashboard, there were 1,314 confirmed shootings in 2021, 920 in 2020 and 413 in 2019.
The last police shooting in Portland was Oct. 5, as officers covered three separate crime scenes in the Lloyd District. An officer with the Portland Police Bureau told KGW at the scene that a stolen Subaru had been crashed during the incident and that MCSO had fired at someone. No one was hurt in that shooting.