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Police Shoot, Kill Man in SW Portland...
on Same Day White Supremacist Kills Black Lives Matter Protestor

On Saturday, February 19, two high profile events took place leaving two people dead. The first was when Portland Police Acting Sergeant Zachary Kenney (#44439) and Officer Reynaldo Guevara (#60587) shot and killed Joel Michael Arevalo, 30, after they claim he would not take his hands out of his pants when commanded to do so. Not long afterward, as the Justice for Patrick Kimmons movement set up to march for police accountability in Normandale Park in NE Portland, a white supremacist yelled at people preparing to block traffic, then pulled out a gun and shot four people, killing one. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) released incorrect information and the City seemed to downplay that this was a politically motivated crime. Meanwhile, two families of people killed by the PPB filed suit.

In related news: (a) a former PPB officer, now with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, was involved in a shooting (see Statewide Shootings article in this issue), and (b) two current officers involved in killing civilians received positive press for good deeds ("Rapping Back," in this issue).

Joel Michael Arevalo: Official Story Posted Before Investigation Finished

The detail about Arevalo not taking his hands out of his pockets, along with a claim that police found a gun nearby him after he was shot, came not from PPB news releases nor investigative reporting in the media. Rather, it was posted by the Bureau on the state Attorney General's website on February 25-- six days after the incident, and well before an investigation could have been fully completed and a Grand Jury held. The official story reported in the news was a "disturbance" in SW Portland where shots had been fired (Oregonlive, February 20) and that bullets (unclear whether from police or not) hit empty rooms in the condominium where the shooting took place (Oregonlive, February 23).

Ralliers for Black Lives See Attack Minimized

Patrick Kimmons was a young Black man killed by Portland Police in September, 2018 (PPR #76). His mother Letha Winston has been leading marches and rallies for justice ever since. Benjamin Smith shot and killed June Knightly and shot four other people at the February 19 rally. Smith was wounded by return fire; his injuries were attended by street medics who likely saved his life. It's been reported the police showing up on the scene ordered the medics to stop assisting the shooting victims (and Smith). The person who returned fire was initially arrested. Once police and the District Attorney reviewed "GoPro" footage of the scene, they declined to press charges. Smith, on the other hand, is facing nine charges including murder in the second degree (Portland Mercury blog, February 22).

The Mayor and Chief lumped together a tragic shooting of several members of an immigrant family on February 20, the police shooting and this white supremacist shooting together as part of the problem of ongoing gun violence in the city (Oregonian, February 23). It would be worth examining that Arevalo was the fifth person killed and the ninth shot by the Portland Police in just over ten months and that Smith, unlike the initial police assessment, did seem to have a political motivation for his violence. Community members called out the Bureau for its initial report saying Smith was a "homeowner" who got into a fight with "armed protestors," when in fact he came out yelling for people to leave and shot unarmed volunteers.

Henriksen,Townsend Families File Suit

About two weeks apart, the families of Koben Henriksen, killed in December 2019 (PPR #79), and Michael Townsend, killed in June 2021 (PPR #84), filed claims for the loss of their loved ones to police violence. Both suits focus on police not de-escalating with men in mental health crisis. Henriksen had encountered police, who de-escalated, three weeks before his death (Oregonian, March 4). Townsend called 911 because he was feeling suicidal; the family is asking to change the Bureau's welfare check policy (Oregonian, February 16).

For more information on Justice for Patrick Kimmons see instagram.com/JusticeForPatrickKimmons.

May, 2022
Also in PPR #86

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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