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September 19, 2018
Next Steps in PSU Shooting
C ontinueD from f ront
Portland State University Pres-
ident Rahmat Shoureshi released
a statement following the grand
jury’s decision. He said PSU has
hired two independent firms, one
to examine the school’s policy of
arming campus police and another
to conduct its own investigation
into the shooting. The consulting
firms were chosen based on an
oversight committee’s recommen-
dations, an effort to make the re-
view process more transparent.
“Mr. Washington’s death has
deeply shaken all those involved
as well as the greater campus
community, and we are deter-
mined to learn from it,” Shoureshi
said. “My hope is that our actions
following this tragedy will help
make our campus and community
a safer place for years to come.”
The PSU Board also released a
statement that signaled they will
carefully consider the findings of
the policy review, calling Jason
Washington’s death a “tragedy”.
“The Board of Trustees has
been and continues to be deeply
affected y the June 29th death of
Mr. Jason Washington,” the state-
ment read. “The Board wrestled
with the decision to arm campus
police in 2014, and we are pre-
pared to wrestle with it again—
with open minds—to determine
whether the current policy should
be continued or changed.”
Dewey and McKenzie will be
placed on desk duty—still with
firearms -- while the university’s
independent investigation gets
underway, officials said. The of-
ficers had been on paid adminis-
trative leave since the shooting. A
re-evaluation of their status will
L egaL N otices
be conducted after the indepen-
dent study is completed, the uni-
versity said.
Body camera videos from the
two officers involved, and 70
freeze frame photos from the po-
lice investigation that were re-
leased through a public records
request show different angles of
the shooting. In addition, cell-
phone video shot by a witness and
released shortly after the shooting
shows Washington repeatedly try-
ing to restrain a friend before he
was shot.
A 397-page police report com-
pleted by the Portland Police Bu-
reau, and also released Friday,
revealed that Washington’s gun
belonged to his friend, Jeremy
Wilkinson, who had asked Wash-
ington to take it so he didn’t make
a “poor decision” in a drunken
confrontation. Washington was
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also found to have had a blood
alcohol content reading of more
three times the legal driving limit
when he died.
The footage from Dewey’s
camera shows the campus police
officer rolling up to a fight out-
side the bar around 1:30 a.m. As
he exits the patrol vehicle, a cam-
ouflage -clad man, Patrick Dean,
is heard telling the officer, “He
pulled a gun on us! He pulled a
gun!” as he points to Washington,
who appears to be trying to keep
his friend from a fight.
In later interviews with po-
lice, Dean later said Washington
“didn’t pull it out [on] anybody,
he didn’t point it at anybody.”
Washington’s visibly intoxicat-
ed friend, Wilkinson, is seen in the
police video breaking away and
then punching another man until
he is kicked by Dean in the head
and knocked out.
As Washington tries to pull
yet another man away from the
unconscious Wilkinson, Dewey
grabs Washington’s arm from be-
hind and tells him to back away
from the fight. A black object that
appears to be a gun is visible pro-
truding from Washington’s right
hip pocket.
Dewey and the other police of-
ficer repeatedly yell at Washing-
ton to “drop the gun.”
A witness told several me-
dia outlets immediately after the
shooting that she saw the gun fall
out of Washington’s pocket after
he fell to the ground, and he was
shot after he picked it up.
It’s unclear from the angle of
both police body camera videos,
and the eyewitness video, howev-
er, whether Washington is holding
the gun when he is shot.
Right before the shots are
fired, an officer is heard saying,
“We will shoot you.” It then takes
approximately 3 seconds before
both officers begin firing their
weapons and Washington falls
to the sidewalk, dead, next to
Wilkinson, after being hit in the
cheek, ear, chest, back, and hip
area. The records also show 17
bullet casing were found at the
scene.
In the police video, Dean, the
man who earlier claimed Wash-
ington pulled a gun on him, be-
comes distraught at the sight of
the shooting, screaming at the
officers, “You killed him! He’s
dead! He’s dead, bro, I don’t even
know him, and he’s dead!”
Wilkinson’s gun, a black Wal-
ther PPQ 9mm pistol, is reportedly
found about 6 inches from Wash-
ington’s right hand. Washington’s
permit to carry a concealed hand-
gun was found in his wallet, a po-
lice officer’s report said.
Washington did not seem heav-
ily intoxicated, according to sev-
eral witness’s testimony to police.
But according to toxicology re-
sults, Washington’s blood alcohol
content was 0.24 when he died.
The police investigation also
revealed Wilkinson’s reaction af-
ter the shooting: “Holy sh— Mi-
chelle’s gonna kill me,” Wilkinson
said, in reference to Washington’s
widow, Michelle, according to a
police transcript. “I gave him my
gun, he got in trouble for that, oh
my gosh.”
Michelle Washington showed
up two hours after the shooting
because her husband was not re-
sponding to messages and was late
coming home.
She had no idea he’d been shot
and stumbled on the scene after
tracking Washington’s cellphone,
the police report said. She found
out from a police detective 40
minutes later that Washington was
the man killed and helped identify
him by describing his tattoos.
She also said in a statement
immediately after the Grand Jury
findings were made on Thursday
that her family was disappointed
in the decision to not bring any
criminal charges, but thanked the
grand jury for their service any-
way, and added that she would
consult her private attorney on
proceeding with a civil lawsuit,
and other next steps.
“We want those responsible
for the death of my husband to be
held accountable,” she said. “We
will always remember and love
Jason and know he was needlessly
killed while attempting to keep the
peace.”
“We intend to vigorously pur-
sue legal action against those
who are responsible for this
tragic death,” Michelle Wash-
ington’s lawyer, Christopher
Larsen, added.
PSU President Shoureshi in-
vited students and communi-
ty members to attend an Oct. 4
PSU Board of Trustees meeting
concerning the shooting and the
future of the campus security
force. The PSU Student Union
said its members would be there
in force. Students are also plan-
ning a rally on Monday, Sept. 24
in order to call for the immedi-
ate disarmament of PSU campus
officers and the firing of Dewey
and McKenzie.
A student union posting on
Twitter said Washington was a
victim of racial profiling from
PSU police, “This is why we do
not, and have never wanted armed
police officers on PSU’s campus,”
the post said.
Washington’s death reignited a
long-worn debate about the poli-
cy to arm campus officers at PSU,
which was first equipped with
guns starting July 2015.
The 2014 vote by the Board of
Trustees in favor of arming of-
ficers has seen the opposition of
student groups and activists ever
since and surveys of the school’s
students and faculty showed the
majority were opposed to the pol-
icy back in 2013, according to an
NAACP statement, who called
the shooting “shameful and egre-
gious.”