Police apologize for misclassifying Portland BLM volunteers as 'armed'
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An investigation initially reported by The Guardian revealed that volunteers at the 2022 Black Lives Matter event were unarmed, contrary to police claims.
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A man who later died is treated after being shot at a demonstration in Portland, Oregon on August 29, 2020. (AP)
The chief of Police in Oregona's Portland announced this week that the agency deceived the public about a deadly mass shooting targeting traffic safety volunteers before a Black Lives Matter rally in 2022 by falsely reporting to the media that the gunman was met by "armed protesters".
In reality, as a visual analysis conducted by the research group Forensic Architecture and originally reported by The Guardian last year revealed, the traffic-safety volunteers at the February 19, 2022, rally were unarmed and attempting to de-escalate before the shooting, which took the lives of two people and injured three more.
A volunteer armed guard for the demonstration, who arrived at the scene, shot the attacker in the hip, and disarmed him, ending the shooting.
Bob Day, the Portland police bureau head, apologized in a video message aired online Wednesday for the police's disinformation regarding the attack to the media, acknowledging the "incredible pain and trauma this tragedy has caused" and recognizing the "role the Portland police bureau played in exacerbating that pain."
“Following the shooting, PPB issued a news release calling the perpetrator of this violent act a homeowner, when in fact he was not,” Day admitted.
“Additionally, the victims were mischaracterized as armed protesters when, in fact, they were unarmed traffic-safety volunteers."
He admitted that after detectives and prosecutors reviewed video of the shooting, which was captured on one victim's helmet camera and used in court against the attacker, 43-year-old Ben Smith, a statement indicating a "confrontation" with "armed protesters" still stood on the police website.
"We did not clarify that this was an unprovoked attack on an innocent group," Day explained, saying the police were "deeply sorry".
As reported by The Guardian last year, public data collected by Forensic Architecture indicated that police officers responding to the mass shooting were informed it was an "anti-police protest". Officers subsequently regarded the severely injured survivors of the incident as suspects rather than victims of a mass shooting.
In reality, they were volunteers aiming to protect racial justice protesters by redirecting traffic away from them, offering medical assistance, and applying de-escalation techniques to calm upset bystanders.
The survivors also blame the mayor at the time, Ted Wheeler, for public statements he made prior to the shooting, in which he urged Portland people to reclaim their city from the racial justice activists, implying that it was time to "make it hurt them a little bit."
He was begged by the mother of a victim to apologize for aiding in tarnishing the image of her daughter and other volunteers. Wheeler sent her a private apology via email and agreed that the city would collaborate with survivors of the assault and residents of the park to build a lasting tribute to the victims.
