A wanted suspect and a Portland Police Bureau K-9 are dead following a shooting in Southeast Portland near the Chestnut Tree Inn, a hotel at the corner of Southeast 97th Avenue and Stark Street.
Eli Imadali / OPB
A homicide suspect is dead following a shooting in Southeast Portland Thursday afternoon, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
A regional Violent Offenders Task Force found the suspect around 1:45 p.m. near the Chestnut Tree Inn, a hotel at the corner of Southeast 97th Avenue and Stark Street. The shooting happened shortly afterward.
More than 40 emergency units responded to the scene. Police cordoned off several blocks around the hotel.
PPB spokesperson Mike Benner told reporters the suspect and a police bureau K-9 both died during the incident.
Police later announced the man had been suspected of killing 60-year-old Jeff Thompson in Gresham on Thursday morning.
As of Friday afternoon, police had not yet released the name of the suspect.
The K-9, named Kylo, was taken for emergency care immediately after the shooting, Benner said. But the dog died from the injuries suffered during the shooting.
“Our members are reeling over that. They’re also reeling over the loss of a human life,” Benner said. “You hear Chief Day talk about the sanctity of life all the time. But as far as our K-9? Heavy hearts.”
Thursday was set to be the K-9’s last shift, police officials said. He served six years with the bureau. Portland Police Chief Bob Day fought back tears as he described how tragedy replaced what was meant to be a day “of celebration and retirement.”
“To watch them work is really a thing of beauty,” Day said “They’re part of our family. And they fill a role that is so critical for the safety of our officers but also the safety of our community. Really, just grateful for Kylo’s service.”
Two Portland police officers are on administrative leave, officials said, as well as two officers from other agencies in the task force.
The task force included the U.S. Marshals Service, Gresham Police Department and the sheriff’s offices of Multnomah and Clackamas counties.
An employee at the Chestnut Tree Inn told OPB that police shot a person and that a K-9 was hit and injured by gunfire in the hotel’s parking lot.
Multiple bystanders separately recalled that, around 2 p.m., they saw several police cruisers arriving at the scene following a volley of gunfire.
Ryan Kowal, a bystander, lives with his wife at a hotel across the street.
“Honestly, it’s a shocker,” Kowal said. “It’s not something you expect to see during the daytime.”
According to Benner, the last Portland Police Bureau K-9 to die in the line of duty was a 3-year-old German shepherd named Mick who was responding to a burglary alongside his handler. The handler was also wounded during that encounter.
This story may be updated.
