PORTLAND, Ore. — PORTLAND, Ore. – The family of a man shot and killed by Portland State University police took down a temporary memorial at the university’s request on Friday. But the family of Jason Washington vowed not to forget him, or what happened earlier this summer.
Washington was shot June 29 while he was trying to break up a fight on the sidewalk near Southwest Broadway and College Street, witnesses said.
Washington had a concealed carry permit. Witnesses said as he tried to break up a fight on the sidewalk, his gun fell from its holster. When he reached to pick it up, PSU officers shot him.
The memorial came down Friday, but the feelings about what happened are still strong.
“We were asked by PSU to take it down, and while we chose to comply we will never let the murder of my father Jason Washington be forgotten or his memory to be erased," said his eldest daughter Kayla Washington.
The 45-year-old was a military veteran, a local postal worker, and was husband, father and grandfather.
His wife Michelle reacted when asked what she thought he’d think of what happened, saying, “I think he would be in shock that this would be something that would possibly happen to him because he was such a believer in the law and police and his rights. And he'd be in shock, we're all in shock because this is the last person in a million years I would think this would happen to.”
The family also reasserted demands it made last month that PSU fire the two officers involved in the shooting, and immediately disarm the campus police force.
The university has not commented or acted on those demands, but did release a statement on Friday, attributed to PSU President Rahmet Shoureshi. It reads:
“Temporary memorials are important as a way for the community to express itself. The memorial to Jason Washington is heartfelt. At the same time, temporary public memorials represent expressions of free speech and the law requires that what is done for one such expression must be done for all.
I understand the Washington family’s desire to preserve the temporary memorial erected on campus. We have spoken with them through their representatives several times recently about ways to preserve the memory of the community’s expression of grief and compassion after the temporary memorial is removed. We have taken many detailed photos of the memorial and provided them to the family. The family asked for photographic memory books, and we are working with their representatives to prepare them.
Speaking on behalf of the PSU Board of Trustees and entire PSU community, we will continue to work together with the family during this difficult time.”