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Wednesday • September 19, 2018
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photo by S hane D ixon / via ap
Police stand outside the Cheerful Tortoise bar following the June 29 shooting of a Jason Washington, a 45 year-old black Navy veteran and postal worker who was shot
and killed by Portland State University police while trying to stop a bar fight across from the campus.
Next Steps in PSU Shooting
Campus opens two
probes; board
open to disarming
by D anny p eterSon
t he p ortlanD o bServer
After a grand jury cleared two Portland
State University police officers of criminal
charges in the shooting death of a lawful-
ly armed black man and evidence from the
case is before the public for the first time,
the university will begin its own public in-
vestigations into the circumstances of the
case which will include an examination of
PSU’s policing policies and may result in a
decision to disarm campus police entirely,
PSU officials said.
On Thursday, a Multnomah County
Grand Jury determined that PSU police
acted either in self defense or to protect
other lives when Jason Washington, a
45-year-old Navy veteran, father, grand-
father, and U.S. Postal Service employee,
was shot on June 29. The deadly confronta-
tion marked the university’s first officer-in-
volved shooting since arming its security
force three years ago in a controversial
decision.
Evidence released to the public for the
first time shows Washington was carrying
his friend’s firearm and had his own con-
ceal carry permit at the time. Body cam
video from campus police show he was
shot after trying to stop a bar fight outside
the Cheerful Tortoise, a popular bar in the
vicinity of the campus.
The two officers involved, Shawn McK-
enzie and James Dewey, fired 17 shots at
Washington, after warning him to drop the
gun.
C ontinueD on p age 4