The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office has released new details on the deadly officer-involved shooting that happened Sunday near Welches.
The man shot and killed by police earlier this week has been identified as 19-year-old Nicholas Toler from Brightwood, Oregon.
According to the DA’s office, Oregon State Police Trooper Garrett Bailey attempted to stop Toler because he believed he was driving under the influence.
Toler fled and was briefly stopped on a dead-end road, where he told Bailey he had a gun, the office said.
Toler then led police on another high-speed chase, officials said, prompting Bailey to call for additional law enforcement support. Jordan Landstrom, a deputy with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, responded.
The DA’s office said Toler eventually pulled into a parking lot near the Barlow Trail Roadhouse on Highway 26, Welches.
“Toler exited his vehicle and had his right hand behind his back as if he had a weapon,” read a press release issued by the DA’s office. “The officers repeatedly ordered Toler to show them his hands. Toler quickly drew his right hand from behind his back as if producing a firearm, and the officers shot him.”
The DA’s office said Toler went back into his vehicle and was momentarily out of view.
It said when he later appeared, he refused to show his hands again and “represented that he had a weapon by twice pointing an object at the officers as if it were a firearm.”
Police shot at him again.
Toler was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy report found he had been shot four or five times.
Toler did not have a gun, according to authorities.
The Lake Oswego and West Linn police departments are leading the investigation in coordination with the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team.
A Clackamas County grand jury will now evaluate “the use of deadly physical force” by law enforcement. The DA’s office says the incident was captured on the officer’s body-worn cameras as well as dash cams.
