Officers shoot, kill man with gun outside Good Samaritan Hospital
KOIN.com, November 6, 2015 – Officers shot and killed a 51-year-old man in the parking lot outside Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Portland early Friday morning after officers say he fired several shots.
Michael Gregory Johnson
None of the involved officers was injured in the incident. Police said two officers opened fire on the man who was intent on ending his own life.
Officers were called out around 5:40 a.m. on reports of a potentially suicidal man with a gun outside the east end of the building. A 911 caller said the man was in the parking lot holding a gun to his head.
Police closed off Northwest 23rd and 21st avenues from Johnson to Kearny Streets while a Crisis Negotiation Team worked with the man, but police said he did not “engage with them in any meaningful dialogue.”
“Officers could see that he did have a gun in his hand,” said Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson. “Several times he was seen walking around. He would drop the gun from his head (then) put it back to his head.”
Simpson said the man fired a handgun two times into the ground, separated by several minutes. And then the man fired a third time at police. Police then fired back, hitting him.
After officers returned fire, another officer fired a less-lethal weapon at the man after he had fallen to the ground. Seeing no response from the man, officers approached him and began first aid.
Police have not identified the man or the officers who shot him. The officers, however, are members of the bureau’s SERT and are 22-year veterans of the bureau.
An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday morning. Once that and family notifications are complete, police said they will release the man’s name as well as the names of the officers involved in the shooting.
Portland police chief spoke to OHSU doctors about police response to mental health crises on morning of police fatal shooting
Oregonian.com, November 6, 2015 – Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea addressed a psychiatry seminar at OHSU Hospital on Friday morning, discussing the challenges police face in their encounters with those who suffer mental illness, just after a real-life example played out across town.
O’Dea had kept a close ear to his police radio as he drove from his Oregon City home to the Southwest Portland hospital, listening to updates about an unfolding police standoff with an armed suicidal man in a parking lot outside Good Samaritan Medical Center in Northwest Portland.
Portland police shoot, kill armed suicidal man across from Good Samaritan Medical Center
Oregonian.com, November 6, 2015 – Two Portland police tactical officers shot and killed a suicidal man Friday after he held a gun to his head, was ranting incoherently and fired at least two rounds from a handgun in a parking lot across the street from Good Samaritan Medical Center.
The stand-off snarled traffic in the busy Northwest Portland neighborhood and put the hospital on lockdown for three hours as workers contacted patients to expect some surgery delays.
Police said the two tactical officers shot the 51-year-old man when he fired his handgun towards police. The police shots came about an hour into the confrontation and some time after the man had first fired two shots into the ground.
“It’s never a good day when this happens,” said Mayor Charlie Hales, who serves as the city’s police commissioner and went to the scene.
READ MORE AT – Portland police shoot, kill armed suicidal man across from Good Samaritan Medical Center
Armed suicidal man killed by cops in NW Portland is identified, as are officers who shot him
Oregonian.com, November 7, 2015 – Police identified the armed man shot and killed by officers in a parking lot across the street from Good Samaritan Hospital Friday as Michael Gregory Johnson, 51.
According to a news release, an autopsy determined that Johnson died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The officers who shot Johnson were identified as Officer Russell Corno, assigned to the Gang Enforcement Team and the Special Emergency Reaction Team, and Officer Chad Daul, assigned to the Transit Police Division and the Special Emergency Reaction Team.
Both are 22-year-veterans of the Portland Police Bureau. Both are on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
In 2008, Corno shot at an armed man while serving a search warrant at the man’s Southeast Portland home. In 2009, Corno shot and wounded an armed robber. A Multnomah County grand jury did not indict him. In 2002, Daul was involved in an incident in which another officer fired shots at a man wanted on suspicion of attempted murder. Daul fired three beanbag rounds at the man in that incident.
READ MORE – Armed suicidal man killed by cops in NW Portland is identified, as are officers who shot him
Police fatal shooting of armed man near Good Samaritan hospital ruled a suicide
Oregonian.com, November 9, 2015 – The state medical examiner’s office has ruled that the distraught man killed by police Friday near Good Samaritan Medical Center died by suicide.
The medical examiner’s finding is based on the theory that Johnson pointed a gun at officers, intending for police to shoot and kill him, but “suicide by cop” remains a controversial death certification.
Michael Gregory Johnson, 51, died of multiple gunshot wounds but no self-inflicted wounds, said Dr. Cliff Nelson, a deputy medical examiner.
Nelson said Monday that he determined the manner of death as suicide “by information gathered during the investigation” and “evidence gathered on the body” that investigators brought into the medical examiner’s office.
He declined to elaborate.
READ MORE AT – Police fatal shooting of armed man near Good Samaritan hospital ruled a suicide
Letter response by Cody_Seth_Crawford @Bret Lieuallen
I had to post my comment twice because the Oregonian is censoring them;
It has become the way to end your life, I understand it very well. I have met a couple of men who were shot and permanently disabled by police bullets who live here at Oregon State Hospital with me.The man from this story was another case of too little community mental health care that was just too hard to get. Either through public stigma perpetuated through mass media and Hollywood or more personal reasons like religion people refuse to seek help.Sometimes the person wants help, yet is so far gone spiritually and mentally that they just cannot wait in a ER waiting room and fill out paperwork that they could care less about as the suicidal thoughts take center stage.Then you get a receptionist telling you that you are not able to get care there because you look fine, then with your new referral to go see some mental health department at the county health authority weeks later you finally give up.
People used to be able to walk themselves to Oregon State Hospital and stay for a week, or two. Without a conviction or a court order you can no longer get the fast help that needs to be there just waiting for anyone who needs it.
3 days before I got arrested in 2013 for unlawful use of a weapon (Empty sling shot aimed and shot over a deputy’s head) I went to The Salem Emergency Room at Salem Hospital. I was turned away and told that I was uncommitable unless I broke laws or hurt someone.I was so distraught that nobody wanted to help me; I sat in the hospitals screening room in the ER and begged them to commit me. Now 28 months later I am begging them to let me go.
If you have mental health problems; and believe me they are problems not assets, find something that works for you.I found out the hard way that meds are bad for me and have not been on any for 28 months now.At the same time I have seen amazing healing happen and what I could call recovery by people who were put on the right meds for them.
As a community (Oregon) we need to pull together and make a system that works and saves peoples lives.The care I am talking about needs to start in grade school and continue through a person’s life.Oregon State Hospital is charging me $21,600 per month for care that consists of me doing a clay class and music.I take no anti-psychotics or relaxer meds like benzodiazapam.I eat food that is like what you ate in high school at the cafeteria.I am not paying that 21,600 $, the Tax payers are actually paying this.Sorry to the guy who just got shot because there is no money for his treatment and he got the cops to give him the fastest relief.
–Cody Seth Crawfordage 29, OSH Salem Oregon + unit Bridge 2
Letter in response to the death of Mike Johnson by Jenny Westberg and Jason Renaud
Published in The Oregonian – Nov. 14
Westberg and Renaud are volunteers with the Mental Health Association of Portland
On November 6, the bell tolled again.
As dawn broke over the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital parking lot, Portland police officers drew their weapons, took aim and killed a 51-year-old suicidal man, Michael Gregory Johnson. It was the third death this year caused by the Portland Police Bureau – and the third this year of a person in mental health crisis.
Three deaths per year of Portlanders in crisis is a longtime statistical average for Portland police. Reform efforts, federal intervention and pretty words in press conferences have done nothing to reduce our death toll at the hands of those sworn to “protect and serve.” The Portland Police Bureau has not changed. Three deaths is not an improvement. It’s average.
It’s average, and it’s unacceptable.
And let’s review – almost all people killed by the Portland police, at least back to the 2003 death of Kendra James, have been in a mental health crisis. It’s their most common characteristic, aside from being adult males.
Three years ago, following an extensive investigation, the US Department of Justice confirmed this fact. A lawsuit was filed, and the settlement forced to the city to agree to 186 changes to policies and procedures and how things get done. Their aim was to protect the civil rights of people with mental illness in this town – to stop them from getting killed by cops.
To date, it hasn’t worked. The city and its police say they’ve started to make changes the DOJ believes will stop the killing. We’re skeptical, but still hopeful – and we’re watching.
Some will say because this week’s victim had a gun, which he shot into the ground near his feet, or because he was suicidal, his death is expected and acceptable. This is entirely wrong. Death by cop should never be an expectation, and no police officer should assist a suicide by pulling the trigger of their service weapon.
The state of Oregon and Multnomah County are committed to a self-defeating model of community mental health, with chronic underfunding and mismanagement guaranteeing that people will stay sick. More cuts are in the pipeline. Our people – people with mental illness – want nothing more than to be well. No one wants to die at the hands of the police.
Without even knowing the backstory, this Johnson’s death should be instructive to city leaders.
1. The US Department of Justice v. City of Portland settlement agreement has had no effect on use of force by Portland police against people with mental illness.
2. Most Portland police shootings are directed still at people in a mental health crisis.
3. Most shootings happen very quickly, without time for specially trained officers or mental health outreach workers to get into place, often just moments after police arrive.
4. After years of handwringing by the city, the police and the public, the Portland Police Bureau has made no headway in resolving this problem – or assuring Portland residents with mental illness that they are not targets. Crisis Intervention Team training has not reduced the number of deaths. Engagement with the mental health system has not worked. Highlighting deaths – and the responsible officers – on the front page of the paper has not worked.
So today, we mourn a man whose death was acceptable – collateral damage in a war against people with mental illness in Portland. Out of human decency, let us begin anew to find a better answer – before the bell tolls for another.
‘He’s not a 51-year-old suicidal man. He’s my son.’
KGW.com November 9, 2015 – The family of a man whose death was ruled as suicide after police gunfire killed him hopes their story will help others struggling with mental illness.
On Friday, investigators say 51-year-old Michael Johnson fired a gun at officers outside Good Samaritan hospital in Northwest Portland. Officers returned fire, killing him.
Johnson’s family said he struggled with depression and bipolar disorder, which worsened over the last three years. He was under a doctor’s care, took medicine and had the support of his family. But in the end it wasn’t enough.
“About three weeks ago, Michael said, ‘Mom, I just want to get back to being the person I used to be,'” said Cookie Johnson. “I think he just got to the point where he knew he just couldn’t and wouldn’t get back.”
Johnson’s family wants people to talk about mental illness the way they talk about a loved one fighting cancer. They don’t want anyone to feel ashamed, even if that loved one loses the fight.
“I think until his last days, Michael felt that love,” Johnson said. “And that love certainly didn’t translate into saving his life, and that’s the sadness of this disease.”
Michael Johnson was a skilled carpenter and owned his own business. His family hopes to create a carpentry scholarship fund for Aloha High School, where Johnson attended. They want to team up with a local mental health organization to get it off the ground.
“Michael had a big heart. He was a full, important human being,” said Johnson. “But you can’t make them whole because you want them to be whole.”
Brother of man shot and killed by police: ‘He could be anybody’
KATU.com November 9, 2015 – The brother of the man with a gun who police shot and killed in Northwest Portland last Friday, Nov. 6 is sharing his family’s story to raise awareness about mental illness.
Warren Johnson wants people to know anyone can have a troubled family member like his younger brother, Michael, who died from police gunfire in a parking lot near Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital.
“He was the life of every family event we ever had. … Michael was happy,” Johnson said.
But Michael was also fighting a battle few, except those closest to him, knew about.
“He has had subtle depression really a good portion of his life since college, but he’s been on medication. He took his medication,” Johnson said.
He had dinner with Michael a few days before Michael died.
“He was very sad. He felt like he was losing a lot of the things in his life that were important to him,” Johnson said.
But no one in Michael’s family thought for a second he would, as police have said, publicly threaten to take his own life or cause police to shoot and kill him. Michael wasn’t homeless, as some people have assumed.
Police said Michael fired a handgun two times into the ground and a third time at officers before they fired back and killed him.
“I’m not here to assign blame to anybody. … The part I don’t understand is why so public when he’s a fairly private person,” Johnson said.
He also doesn’t understand why Michael ended up in Northwest Portland that day. Michael lived in Forest Grove with his wife. His daughter is in college. Michael owned Artisan Carpentry, a successful home restoration business, and volunteered for the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Michael Johnson’s family wants to establish a scholarship in his name with the trade school at Aloha High School where he attended. Warren Johnson said they’re looking for a mental health organization to partner with them.
Johnson also believes the public can learn an important lesson from his brother’s battle with mental illness.
“These people have a history and a life and it varies but there are people who care about them. And that they’ve impacted in a really positive, positive way,” he said.
Man killed by Portland police ‘was just swallowed’ by bipolar disorder, mother says
Oregonian.com November 10, 2015 – About three weeks ago, Michael G. Johnson shared his personal struggles with his mother as he worked restoring the porch railings of a colonial Northeast Portland home of a mutual friend.
“He said, ‘Mom, I just want to be the person I used to be, but it’s really hard. I fight it all day long,” his mother recalled Tuesday, just hours before she planned to attend the viewing of his body.
Two Portland police officers fatally shot Michael Johnson early Friday, after he pointed a handgun towards officers near a parking lot across from Good Samaritan Medical Center. He died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Cookie Johnson talks about death of her son The death of Cookie Johnson’s son Michael Johnson was ruled a suicide after his armed confrontation with Portland Police, who shot him. She talks about his big, generous personality and how mental illness “swallowed” him.
The 51-year-old, the youngest of her two sons, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder as an adult, had seen psychiatrists, attended a day treatment program and changed medications to see what would work best. But his condition had deteriorated in the last three weeks. He had been distracted by irrational beliefs and fears.
His mother saw her creative, loving son who had a knack for woodworking and restoring cars and was often the life of a party suffering more and more. A week ago, he was at her Lake Oswego condo, “and he said, ‘Mom, I feel like two people. Sometimes I’m Michael, working on my van. But this other person inside of me is going to start to take over, and I can’t let that happen again.'”
READ – Man killed by Portland police ‘was just swallowed’ by bipolar disorder, mother says
Witnesses say man shot by police held a gun to his head outside Good Samaritan hospital
Hillsboro Tribune, Nov. 12, 2015
A Forest Grove man was shot and killed by Portland police Nov. 6 in an apparent “suicide by cop.”
Michael Gregory Johnson, 51, died at the scene, just outside Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Portland. The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Over the weekend, Portland Police Bureau officials released additional details in the officer-involved shooting of Johnson, who had been armed with a handgun outside the hospital, located at 1015 N.W. 22nd Ave.
According to the report, PPB Central Precinct officers responded to the east side of the facility at 5:41 a.m. after being told a man was in the parking lot holding a gun to his head. Numerous officers, including members of the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team, contained the area around Johnson, talking with him in an attempt to get him to put down the gun — to no avail, the report stated.
Johnson fired two rounds from his handgun into the ground, separated by a few minutes, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson, a spokesman for the PPB. Several minutes after the second shot, Johnson fired a third round toward police officers, resulting in return fire and his incapacitation and death.
Johnson lived on Shearer Hill Road in the Gales Creek area, northwest of Forest Grove and also had an address in Tillamook, Simpson said.
He was a woodworker who had owned his own business, Artisan Carpenters Inc., for almost 15 years, according to state business records.
Johnson was married to Anya Doll, who has been active in community, arts, justice and children’s issues in the Forest Grove area for many years.
COURTESY PHOTO: KOIN 6 NEWS – Part of Northwest 23rd Avenue in Portland was closed Friday morning during an investigation into the shooting of a suicidal man near Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital.
Officers involved in the shooting were Russell Corno, who is assigned to the PPB’s Gang Enforcement Team and the Special Emergency Reaction Team, and Chad Daul, who is assigned to the Transit Police Division and SERT. Both officers are on paid administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation, ` Simpson said.
Police said that as soon as Johnson was on the ground, another SERT officer fired a less lethal baton at his lower extremities because he was still armed with the gun. Seeing no response, SERT officers approached Johnson and began to render aid, calling for Portland Fire & Rescue paramedics to treat his injuries.
Medical efforts were unsuccessful.
The shooting happened just a month after the city of Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice signed a settlement intended to reduce the police use of excessive force against the mentally ill and others in their jurisdiction. The PPB has adopted new rules and changed training procedures, and the city council has increased funding to the bureau to comply with the settlement, Simpson said.
Witnesses say man shot by police held a gun to his head outside Good Samaritan hospital
Portland Tribune, November 12, 2015 – A Forest Grove man was shot and killed by Portland police Nov. 6 in an apparent “suicide by cop.”
Michael Gregory Johnson, 51, died at the scene, just outside Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Portland. The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Over the weekend, Portland Police Bureau officials released additional details in the officer-involved shooting of Johnson, who had been armed with a handgun outside the hospital, located at 1015 N.W. 22nd Ave.
According to the report, PPB Central Precinct officers responded to the east side of the facility at 5:41 a.m. after being told a man was in the parking lot holding a gun to his head. Numerous officers, including members of the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team, contained the area around Johnson, talking with him in an attempt to get him to put down the gun — to no avail, the report stated.
Johnson fired two rounds from his handgun into the ground, separated by a few minutes, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson, a spokesman for the PPB. Several minutes after the second shot, Johnson fired a third round toward police officers, resulting in return fire and his incapacitation and death.
Johnson lived on Shearer Hill Road in the Gales Creek area, northwest of Forest Grove and also had an address in Tillamook, Simpson said.
He was a woodworker who had owned his own business, Artisan Carpenters Inc., for almost 15 years, according to state business records.
Johnson was married to Anya Doll, who has been active in community, arts, justice and children’s issues in the Forest Grove area for many years.
Officers involved in the shooting were Russell Corno, who is assigned to the PPB’s Gang Enforcement Team and the Special Emergency Reaction Team, and Chad Daul, who is assigned to the Transit Police Division and SERT. Both officers are on paid administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation, ` Simpson said.
Police said that as soon as Johnson was on the ground, another SERT officer fired a less lethal baton at his lower extremities because he was still armed with the gun. Seeing no response, SERT officers approached Johnson and began to render aid, calling for Portland Fire & Rescue paramedics to treat his injuries.
Medical efforts were unsuccessful.
The shooting happened just a month after the city of Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice signed a settlement intended to reduce the police use of excessive force against the mentally ill and others in their jurisdiction. The PPB has adopted new rules and changed training procedures, and the city council has increased funding to the bureau to comply with the settlement, Simpson said.
KBOO Interview: Portland Police and the Recent Killing of a Mentally Ill Man
KBOO radio Host Jo Ann Hardesty speaks with Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland about the recent police killing of Michael Johnson, a mentally ill man in Portland and why the Department of Justice intervention hasn’t stopped police killings.
Grand jury finds no criminal wrongdoing by Portland police who fatally shot man near Good Samaritan Medical Center
Oregonian.com 12/5/2015
A Multnomah County grand jury Friday found no criminal wrongdoing by two Portland police tactical officers who shot and killed Michael Johnson across the street from Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Police said Johnson fired a handgun at officers and others.
Johnson, 51, died from multiple gunshot wounds at the scene. He collapsed on Northwest 22nd Avenue, between Kearney and Lovejoy streets.
Officer Russell Corno, assigned to the Gang Enforcement Team and the Special Emergency Reaction Team, and Officer Chad Daul, assigned to the Transit Police Division and the Special Emergency Reaction Team, were the two officers who fired at Johnson.
Police and the District Attorney’s Office haven’t released further details about the shooting. The DA’s Office is expected to ask the presiding judge to make the grand jury transcripts public later this month.
According to information released last month, police got a call at 5:41 a.m. that a man had a gun to his head in a parking lot across from Good Samaritan. The initial call was that he wasn’t threatening others. Patrol officers, including specially trained members of the bureau’s Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team, were among those who responded to try to talk to the man.
They saw Johnson walking around the parking lot, and at times, he put the gun down and then pointed it back to his head. As officers were trying to talk to him, he fired two shots from his handgun into the ground, police said.
There was little indication that Johnson was responding to the officers so the bureau’s Special Emergency Response Team and Crisis Negotiation Team was called in, police said.
As the tactical officers were moving in to relieve the initial patrol officers, Corno and Daul fired at the 51-year-old when they saw him point his gun toward officers, according to police.
The two tactical officers are both 22-year bureau veterans.
After Johnson collapsed, a third tactical officer from the Special Emergency Reaction Team fired a less-lethal baton at Johnson’s lower body because he was “still armed with a gun,” according to a police news release. Seeing no response, officers approached and started to provide emergency aid, police said.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Although he was shot and killed by police, the state medical examiner’s office ruled his death a suicide.
His mother, Cookie Johnson, in an interview with The Oregonian days after her son’s death, said Michael Johnson, the youngest of her two sons, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder as an adult, had seen psychiatrists, attended a day treatment program and changed medications to see what would work best.
But his condition had deteriorated in the three weeks before his death and he had been distracted by irrational beliefs and fears, she said. She believes her son wanted his troubles to end, she said.