PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police have identified a man who was shot and killed by officers during an armed struggle in the Centennial neighborhood early Sunday morning, the first in a series of violent encounters between police and suspects since the weekend.
The Portland Police Bureau said the man, later identified as 19-year-old Johnathan A. Worth, was a suspect in a domestic violence incident. According to a news release, officers responded to Southeast 148th Avenue and Clinton Street around 12:06 a.m. Sunday to a report that a man and woman were fighting.
Police said Worth was armed and fired a shot first, after which an officer shot him. The suspect died at the scene.
Late Sunday night, the PPB identified the officer who killed the suspect as Officer Mina Cavalli-Singer, a nearly 5-year veteran.
Christopher Ponte captured video of the shooting (warning: video is graphic and may be disturbing to viewers) that shows two officers approach the man and try to take him into custody.
"We were cop watching. We call it cop watching — filming the police, and we just happened to be behind a cop when he started to turn his lights and sirens on," he told KGW.
The video shows Worth struggling with officers, and both officers and the man fall to the ground and grapple with each other. It appears Worth has a gun in his hand and a gunshot can be heard on the video.
"I seen the gun come up, it fired and the cop ... got it away from him," Ponte said.
The video shows what appears to be the officer on top of the man wresting the gun from him, after which the other officer fires their weapon in the direction of the man. Once the officer fires their weapon, six shots are heard on the video.
PPB Chief Chuck Lovell responded to the scene and the mayor's office was notified of the shooting. "I'm glad our officers are okay, and this highlights how dangerous this job can be," Lovell said in the news release.
The PPB Homicide Unit is investigating. PPB said investigators spent the morning collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. Anyone who has information about this shooting and has not spoken to police is asked to contact Detective Stephen Gandy at stephen.gandy@portlandoregon.gov or Detective Anthony Merrill at anthony.merrill@portlandoregon.gov and reference Case No. 22-197823.
PPB will conduct an internal review, after which the case will go before the Police Review Board, which is made up of community members, Bureau members and representatives from the Independent Police Review Division. Investigative files and any grand jury transcripts will be posted on the PPB Open Data page once the entire investigation and legal process is complete.