A standoff in Northwest Portland has left residents airing their grievances with the Portland Police Bureau after a knife-wielding suspect managed to evade capture on Thursday. The standoff, which stretched for hours, began with police pursuit of a suspect wanted in connection with a property crime, as detailed by a KATU report.
During the incident, the police issued a shelter-in-place order as the suspect, reportedly armed with two knives, approached several restaurants, causing distress among patrons. To try and effectively de-escalate the tension, members of the police's Crisis Negotiation Team were on scene for about three hours. A witness, Saren Craig, expressed the difficulty of the situation to KGW, saying, "There's just like, no perfect answer for this kind of scenario."
The Portland Police Bureau later released a statement revealing their decision to "disengage" after several hours of standoff, a point at which they deemed the threat to the public to have reduced. The officers' approach was informed by the suspect's aggression being directed solely towards them and not the general public, as reported by OregonLive. This strategy left some community members to step in, checking on the welfare of the suspect and providing him with food and money.
