PORTLAND, Ore. — Police charged a Portland landlord with pulling a gun on one his tenants inside the Stewart Hotel in downtown Portland. The incident happened Aug. 13 inside the hotel, which is just above Mary's Strip Club on Southwest Broadway.
The hotel has been the scene of an ongoing dispute between the owners and the low-income residents who lived there. Each side has filed lawsuits against the other.
But on Aug. 13, tensions hit a new level when video shows the building owner, Leon Drennan, pulled a gun on a man who recorded the incident. Drennan is seen swearing at the man and pointing a gun from across the hallway. He then walks up to the man with the gun still pointed at him and the camera appears to fall to the ground.
The victim called police.
Drennan, 73, was arrested and accused of unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. He's now out on bail. Drennan's lawyer, Robert Repp, said he is asking the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office to drop the charges.
That is not the only allegation against Drennan. Another man, Latif Bossman, said a similar thing happened to him on July 1. Bossman said a fellow resident was talking to Drennan when he pulled out a gun.
“He pointed a gun at her and said he would shoot her,” Bossman explained. “I said, ‘Hey, that's not right. Why would you say that to her?’ and he turned to me and pointed his gun to me and told me to get out of his building and called me the n-word.”
Bossman said he and the other woman went into her room, closed the door and called 911. Bossman filed a police report and was told to follow up with the DA’s office, which he said he did.
He grew frustrated when he was told it could be 90 days before any decision came on charges related to the incident. Because of that, Bossman and his lawyer Michael Fuller decided to hold a small rally outside the DA’s office to call attention to the case.
Fuller has seen that video of Drennan with the gun in August.
“My client was similarly assaulted about a month prior and unfortunately when the police arrived, they let the landlord go. Even though he had a firearm and was waving it around and screaming the n-word, they chose not to charge him,” Fuller said. “That's why we're rallying today.”
It appears the public pressure from the rally might have worked because shortly afterward Fuller and Bossman received a call from someone in the DA’s office who said the case is actively being investigated by a hate crimes detective.
A spokesman for the DA’s office provided additional details to KGW. Brent Weisberg said after reviewing the police report, prosecutors determined that the case warranted further investigation. He said that investigation is currently underway and no decisions have been made yet on criminal charges.
Fuller and Bossman are also suing Drennan for $4.5 million.
When contacted for comment, the landlord's lawyer, Robert Repp, described Bossman as “an incredible liar” and suggested Bossman just wants money. He warned KGW not to tell this story or show the video.
In the meantime, KGW dropped by the Stewart Hotel Friday. It appears empty now. But a man named Marcus Evans is working with others to remodel the place. They want to turn the hotel into something good for the community.
“We're going to make it into a community outreach center and we're going to focus on helping local businesses get back to their once glory. We're going to help people start local businesses. We're going to have a community outreach center for the people here – hygiene, food, all sorts of support and resources they can get,” he said.