BEAVERTON, Ore. — A series of misunderstandings led to a lockdown of the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton Thursday, followed by a mistaken report of an active shooter that prompted police to respond to the campus.
According to Sgt. Danny DiPietro with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the situation began when dispatchers received a call from a person who reported that a friend of theirs had sent them a video in which the friend indicated that they were suicidal.
A Nike sign was visible in the background of the video, which led the caller to believe that their friend filmed the video near the Nike campus.
Sheriff's office deputies went to the headquarters and began working with Nike security, DiPietro said, and the campus was placed on lockdown as a precaution.
During this time, a contractor who was doing work at Nike called their significant other, who was not on the campus, and told them about the lockdown. The significant other then called 911 and incorrectly reported that there was an active shooter at the campus, DiPietro said.
That call in turn prompted more sheriff's office personnel to respond to the campus and go through one of the buildings floor by floor and room by room to check for an active shooter. The process took about half an hour, according to DiPietro. No shooter was found.
The suicidal person in the video was later determined to have been in North Portland, according to DiPietro.
KGW has reached out to Nike for comment about the incident and will update this story if the company responds.
