Police have identified the Portland officers who fatally fired on the 33-year-old man suspected of shooting and killing a Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center security guard last month.
The officers are Justin Thurman, Timothy Hoerauf and Seth Wingfield, the Portland Police Bureau announced Sunday.
Just before 11 a.m. on July 22, officers responded to reports of a man threatening Good Samaritan staff. The suspect fired a gun in the hospital shortly after, killing Legacy security officer Bobby Smallwood, 44, and injuring one other employee.
The suspect left the scene as swarms of police descended on the Northwest Portland facility.
Shortly after 1 p.m., police vehicles converged in the middle of Northeast 181st Avenue near Glisan Street in Gresham. There police stopped a white and maroon van outside of a U.S. Bank branch on 181st.
Shoppers in the area said they saw a standoff between police and a person in the van later identified as the suspect, PoniaX Kane Calles. Witnesses reported hearing three gunshots.
It’s unclear if Calles reached for a weapon. He died at the scene.
Earlier in the day, Calles had been visiting a partner who was giving birth to their child at Good Samaritan. He had menaced hospital staff for at least three days, spurring requests from employees to have him removed, sources close to the investigation told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Calles had a criminal history and struggled with mental illness, court records show.
In April, Ashely Heil, then six months pregnant, obtained a restraining order against Calles. Heil cited Calles’ “anti-government and anger issues,” and expressed concern about the safety of her 8-year-old daughter, a 1-year-old and an unborn child.
The Portland Police Bureau is investigating the shooting in Gresham. Thurman and Hoerauf, members of the bureau for 16 and 12 years respectively, remain on administrative leave along with Wingfield, who has been with the bureau for seven years, police said.
Calles’ death is the second fatal police shooting in Portland in 2023. Last year, Portland saw four.
– Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744
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