‘Car camper’ robbery suspect shot by police

UPDATED: This wasn’t a stickup at a Madison South neighborhood motel, as some reported, but the incident did end with police shooting the fleeing armed robbery suspect …

Portland Police officers, detectives, and criminalists gather on Northeast Hancock Street, just north of Northeast 82nd Avenue of Roses, after a suspected armed robber was shot.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

A man who had previously been staying at the Portland Value Inn, just north of the Banfield Freeway on Northeast 82nd Avenue of Roses, was car-camping overnight across the street from the motel on Thursday, February 9. He was startled awake at about 7:00 a.m. by someone banging on his car window – with gun in hand.

After being robbed of his Oregon Trail Card, the man ran across the street and asked the motel’s clerk to call police.

After being robbed nearby at gunpoint, the victim asked for help at this motel.

“At 7:24 a.m., Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers responded to motel to investigate the armed robbery of a victim who was sitting in his car across the street from the motel, and had been robbed at gunpoint,” reported PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson.

Not long after, someone called 9-1-1, reporting a car prowl near the Banfield Pet Hospital, and described a suspect with similar characteristics: A black male in his 20s, wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt and jeans, armed with a handgun.

In short order, 27 police units converged on the neighborhood.

“Officers checking the neighborhood contacted a man matching the suspect’s description,” Simpson said, “but he ran from police. Officers established a neighborhood perimeter and began to search for the suspect, assisted by a Canine Unit.”

Those investigating the case gather for a conference in the street, near where the armed suspect was killed.

During the neighborhood search, officers located indications of a break-in a residence in the 8300 block of Northeast Hancock Street. The Canine Unit, wearing a video surveillance camera, searched the home but did not locate anyone.

“A short time later, officers encountered the suspect outside the residence,” Simpson stated. “During this encounter, an officer shot the suspect.”

Red crime scene tape marks off the area where the deadly encounter occurred.

After the shooting, officers approached the suspect to render medical aid but determined that he was dead, Simpson related; adding that a handgun was found near him.

PPB detectives and criminalists were called to the scene, and set up headquarters in the Mobile Precinct unit, parked nearby, on Northeast Hancock Street.

A PPB Criminalist takes photos at the scene.

The identity of the suspect had not yet been revealed, Simpson said, and the officer involved in the incident will remain on paid administrative leave, per Bureau policy, until the completion of the investigation and a meeting of the Grand Jury.

“Following the Grand Jury, the Bureau will release additional information, as is standard practice,” Simpson said. “Additionally, as part of the use of force-review process, the Bureau will conduct an internal review of the entire incident, and the case will go before the Police Review Board, which is comprised of community members, Bureau members, and representatives from the Independent Police Review Division.”

UPDATE

These images show the deceased armed robbery suspect, 17-year-old Quanice Derrick Hayes and the replica thought to have been in his possession. PPB images

The following day, Simpson revealed that the armed robbery suspect shot by an officer was 17-year-old Quanice Derrick Hayes. “At the time of the armed robbery and shooting, Hayes was armed with a realistic-looking replica firearm,” Simpson said.

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