EXCLUSIVE! INCLUDES ARRESTING VIDEO | Find out how Portland Police Bureau officers skillfully deescalated a potentially dangerous situation in outer East Portland and took this man safely into custody …
Portland Police Bureau vehicles and officers converge along S. E. Powell Boulevard at 72nd Avenue as they corner a suspect – reportedly with a gun.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
An otherwise quiet and sunny Sunday morning, February 15, became challenging and worrisome for Foster-Powell neighbors when a reportedly-armed men became involved in a confrontation on S.E. Powell Boulevard.
A dozen Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to what was called a “Threat-with-Weapon” at 10:52 a.m.
Officers discuss how they can safely subdue the suspect without badly injuring him – or being injured themselves.
A resident, standing across the street watching officers pull up, remarked that he believed the incident had started at S.E. 70th – but it ended up two blocks east, in the front yard of a triplex on the corner of Powell Boulevard at 72nd Avenue– where 12 officers had gathered.
In our exclusive video, watch this situation unfold:
At the scene, two loud “pops” came from the front yard where officers had the suspect cornered. A woman jogging past stopped and, with terror in her voice remarked, “The police shot him! You heard that, right? They shot him!”
After the suspect has been hit with “less lethal” rounds and falls to the ground, the officer with the red sash carries the “less lethal” weapon.
Another neighbor, observing the incident, remarked that the gunshot reports sounded more like a taser than a pistol firing. “Maybe it was one of those bean-bag guns that just stuns the person,” he suggested.
Sure enough, as one of the police vehicles pulled away from the scene, the subject was standing up on his own, in handcuffs, talking with officers. However, an ambulance had been called in, and paramedics medically evaluated the subject – and then left the scene without a patient.
“According to officers’ reports, this incident started when a suspect displayed a firearm to a stranger; but no injuries were reported,” PPB Public Information Manager Mike Benner later told East Portland News.
“Officers checked the area, and located a suspect near S.E. 72nd Avenue on Powell Boulevard,” Benner confirmed.
The suspect, surrounded by officers, stands up on his own.
“The suspect appeared to be in some kind of ‘crisis’, so PPB Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team officers – our expert communicators – began a dialogue with him, utilizing de-escalation techniques,” reported Benner. “It does look like they had to utilize some force – ‘less lethal rounds’ – on him to safely arrest him, and the report indicates that a gun was recovered.”
According of officers’ reports, they first contacted the man at 10:59 a.m. and it wasn’t until 11:43 a.m. that he was in custody.
The suspect, later identified as 33-year-old Aurelio Vega Salazar, talks with officers.
Officers arrested 33-year-old Aurelio Vega Salazar, and transported him to the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC), where he was booked in at 2:24 p.m. that afternoon.
At his arraignment, Vega Salazar learned he was facing two Class C Felony charges: Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and Altering Identification on a Firearm – as well as Misdemeanor charges of Menacing and Disorderly Conduct. Currently, he is lodged in the MCDC in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Should you have information about this incident, and haven’t already spoken to police about it, please e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, and make reference to Case No. 26-45834.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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