MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — McMinnville police shot and killed a 69-year-old man during a confrontation outside an apartment building Tuesday afternoon.
Officers responded to a report of a suicidal man at an apartment on Southwest Barbara Street around 2 p.m., according to a news release from Oregon State Police (OSP). The man, later identified as Laurence Dickson, left the apartment building and confronted the officers, OSP said. According to a preliminary investigation, officers fired at least one round, which hit and killed Dickson.
A nearby assisted living facility went into lockdown just after 2 p.m., according to Attaily Myrick, a medication technician at the Vineyard Heights Assisted Living apartments.
Tenants were told there was a man with a gun on the sidewalk. Myrick said she saw the police arrive, but did not see a man with a gun. Staff heard a single gunshot, she said.
McMinnville police could later be seen on the street performing CPR on someone and Myrick said she saw a man's body being put into a body bag.
In a news release, OSP did not say whether Dickson had a gun. KGW reached out to police, but OSP said they will not release any additional information at this time.
A spokesperson for the assisted living facility told KGW that the shooting did not happen on the facility's property and nobody who lives at the facility was harmed.
A resident of a nearby apartment building, Jeff Johnson, said he believed the man who was shot lived in his apartment complex but had only been there about three weeks. He said police came into the building to search the man's apartment after the shooting.
Neighbor Hailey Paull told KGW that her girlfriend heard a gunshot Tuesday afternoon, and Paull looked outside.
"I went out my back door and it was right there, there were four officers with shields kind of in a triangle and they walked over and kicked a gun, a handgun away from him and then turned him over," said Paull, who said she then saw officers perform CPR, trying unsuccessfully to revive Dickson.
"I ran back inside and I was crying and I told my dad who was there, 'I think I just saw someone die,'" Paull continued.
It was especially hard to see, Paull said, because recognized Dickson as someone with whom she had visited with briefly a few times as she walked her dog in the area.
"He was very quiet, he always sat by himself over by those apartments smoking. But he never had any outburst or anything like that before this," said Paull.
OSP is investigating the incident. Two McMinnville police officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the shooting happened at the assisted living facility.