Portland Police Release Videos of Officers' Fatal Shooting of Patrick Kimmons

Oregon Live (October 31, 2018) reported that "Portland police Wednesday released video of the police shooting of Patrick Kimmons in downtown last month after a Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the two officers involved.

The grand jury met over two days and found the shooting by Sgt. Garry Britt and Officer Jeffrey Livingston was justified.

The officers said Kimmons, 27, was running toward them with a gun when they fired 12 shots. Kimmons was hit nine times and pronounced dead a short time later at OHSU Hospital, police said.

Prosecutors from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office met with Kimmons' mother and other relatives Wednesday morning to show them video of the shooting. Police also met with community leaders they invited to North Precinct to play the videos and offer a private update on the shooting investigation.

"The verdict is not justifiable,'' said Kimmons' mother, Letha Winston, protesting outside the courthouse after the jury's findings were announced. "I'm gonna fight for my baby. How could you shoot a man after he already laid down flat."
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On October 7, 2018 I posted about protest in Portland over the death of Mr. Kimmons. The grand jury decision that Portland police were justified in shooting Mr. Kimmons will likely lead to further demonstrations and anti-police sentiment in Portland and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Now, as I look at the surveillance video released in the Oregon Live report on October 31, 2018 I see the two police officers upon hearing shots in the parking lot (Mr. Kimmons had just shot two people) run toward the sounds of the gun fire. They contact Mr. Kimmons who is running towards them with a gun in his had. The two officers shot Mr. Kimmons who was - according to witnesses - pointing a gun back toward them as he ran.

While the crowd was running away, the officers ran forward, putting their own lives at risk to protect their community, and stopped a man (Mr. Kimmons) who had just shot two people in a Portland parking lot.

Sgt. Garry Britt and Officer Jeffrey Livingston risked their own lives to protect the community.