PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Police officers have lifted the shelter-in-place order for residents in Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, saying that the suspect they are still searching for is not armed or a danger to the public.
At 5 p.m., officers responded to a report of an armed robbery at a smoke shop in the 12300 block of Southeast Powell Boulevard. They found out that a suspect with a gun had robbed the store and left, according to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). No one was injured.
Less than ten minutes later, an officer found a person matching the suspect's description in the area of Southeast Powell Boulevard and Southeast 136th Avenue, PPB said. The suspect then got into a stolen car, with officers pursuing, until the driver crashed at Southeast Powell Boulevard and Southeast 122nd Avenue with two other cars.
No one was injured, but the suspect got out of the car and ran into the neighborhood.
Believing that the suspect was armed, the Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT), as well as K9 units, were called to respond; Southeast Powell Boulevard was also closed between Southeast 122nd Avenue and Southeast 125th Place. Residents were notified through the Public Alerts system, PPB said, and were told to stay inside with doors and windows, closed and locked.
At the same time, another unit responded to the scene of the armed robbery to investigate, PPB said, but detectives learned that the robbery suspect's description was different from the suspect who drove away from officers — thus, concluding they were not the same person.
"The new information changed the incident commander’s public safety concern, as PPB no longer had a belief that the suspect in the blocks was armed with a gun. For that reason, the shelter-in-place order was lifted, and tactical teams were released," PPB said in a press release.
Both suspects remain uncaught, PPB said.
If anyone has information about either the smoke shop robbery or the stolen car, they are asked to contact crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 24-19292.
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