The man who died on Wednesday during a confrontation with Portland Police officers has been identified as 21-year-old Bradley Lee Morgan. The investigation into Morgan’s death is ongoing -- an autopsy will be conducted Thursday.
Police say the incident began when a 911 call came in from a man who said he’d committed a robbery at knifepoint, and planned to jump off a nine-story building downtown. Dispatchers determined he was on a parking structure, and police narrowed their search down to the Smart Park at Southwest 3rd and Alder. They began talking to a suspect they now identify as Morgan at 3:40 a.m.
Four minutes later, they called for a mobile mental health team and crisis negotiators. But a police statement says that ten minutes later, at approximately 4:01 a.m., officers saw Morgan pull out an object they described as a handgun. They fired at him. Morgan dropped out of sight, and was subsequently found dead on an elevated platform.
Police say the object in Morgan’s hand turned out to be a replica firearm.
A suspect of the same name and age as Morgan appears to have been arrested in Gresham last week for harassment and other charges.
