FAIRVIEW, Ore. (AP) — The police chief in the east Portland suburb of Fairview says an officer fatally shot a man last month to keep him from plunging a knife into another officer.
Chief Ken Johnson announced Thursday that a grand jury has found no criminal wrongdoing by Officer Mike Morton in the Jan. 27 shooting death of 37-year-old Larry McKinney.
Johnson says Officer Joe Kaiser was almost to the top of stairs leading to McKinney’s mother’s apartment when the man darted out, holding a 10-inch knife cocked above his shoulder. The chief says Kaiser turned to avoid a knife thrust and yelled to alert his partner, Morton. The chief says Morton pulled his gun and fired three rounds, killing McKinney.
McKinney’s mother, Sandra Kelley, has said her drunken son was at the top of the staircase with a knife but didn’t move toward officers at the bottom and didn’t threaten them. She said she wanted police to make her son leave.
After Thursday’s police news conference, Kelley said police “are so totally lying.”
