Man killed by Portland State police was Navy vet trying to break up fight, friends say

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Oregon Live

Updated Jun 30, 6:44 PM



Jason Washington shown in a 2013 photo from his Facebook page.


A man fatally shot outside a sports bar by Portland State University campus police Friday night was a U.S. Navy veteran and father of three who was trying to break up a fight, reports said.

Jason E. Washington, 45, a U.S. Postal Service worker from Portland, Ore., was a licensed gun owner with a concealed carry permit, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

But Washington's gun dropped when he intervened in a fight that began inside the bar moved outside, witnesses told OPB.

The fight reportedly began over a racial slur.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/06/man_killed_by_portland_state_p.html

[JI7]

1. of course

[MrScorpio]

2. Not that I'm blaming this man for his own death...

Because those cops should have never shot this guy.

It's just that I still can't understand the appeal of concealed carry. It seems to me like an added complication to an already complicated world.

May he rest in power.

[marble falls]

4. I don't get the need to casually conceal carry, either. Whether its a good or bad ...

it most certainly complicates things.

[heaven05]

6. makes one

especially an AA feel like he/she can defend oneself when a trumper may harass and attack, police or otherwise. ESPECIALLY these days. That's why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I understand IF you can't understand this line of reasoning.

[marble falls]

13. You seem to imply conceal carry is a reasonable response to harassment. That's ...

certainly how the alt-right feels about harassment from the left, too. I maintain using a firearm as an equalizer is a bad strategy. Particularly if the weapon is concealed. Note that what I was talking about was "casual concealed carry". But lets talk more about "purposeful conceal carry".

Wouldn't open carry make more sense in that it puts the harassers on notice as opposed to being victimized because someone doesn't realize the conceal carrier is strapped?

Let alone that while cops have no problem murdering unarmed AA, they'll shoot an armed AA even quicker. Stopping this doesn't require arming everybody, it means changing the law so that cops can't get off from murdering AAs by merely claiming they thought the AA was armed or that they were afraid for their lives. If AAs can't get away with shooting cops because of a legitimate fear for their lives, the cops need to be held responsible for their assumed fear of being shot by unarmed AAs.

[heaven05]

14. no, I am not implying anything

just looking for a way to protect valuable AA lives when laws ARE NOT going to stop these execution. Laws WILL NEVER be drafted that will be set in stone to make these state/campus authorized murderers face ANY consequence. I feel. I do understand the racial/racist complexities presented to a law abiding AA, legally armed or not, by wypipo executioners, state authorized or not. White COPS ARE NOT NOR WILL EVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for summary executions of unarmed or legally armed AA. Not since 1865 to this present day has the blue wall of silence been pieced and if so, rarely. Your response is excellent in that it does present a valid interpretation/understanding of an historical to this present day dilemma/conundrum.

[brush]

24. Some AAs feel the need to carry protection, especially in this trump...

era of heightened racial tensions. A few friends of mine stated that they would be carrying now that trump is in and the racists are coming out of the woodwork and openly displaying bigotry.

Can't really argue with their logic, but it does complicate matters—the Philando Castillo killing shows that.

[NickB79]

18. I carry a pocket knife, and that's it.

3" blade. That's the most I feel comfortable with.

Most action it sees is cutting plastic ties on Xmas presents, and cutting stems in the garden.

[marble falls]

20. I carry a knife, too. And it probably looks just like yours. Never thought of it ...

as a weapon though I make a point of leaving it in my car if I'm going to the court house.

[Oneironaut]

15. And the fact that it can be used against you if you're overpowered,

as well as possibly more people if the shooter is totally deranged. A simple assault turns into a mass shooting.

I have nothing against CCWers. However, where it fails is, you have the responsibility to secure your own gun. You must also take extra special care to avoid trouble - avoid fights at all times you aren’t forced to. You need to constantly be vigilant and change your habits.

Every instance you get into an altercation as a CCWer - even if it’s just a verbal confrontation, is a life and death conflict. That means, if someone insults you, say nothing and leave. If you see two people fighting, don’t try to intervene. If someone wants to fight you, placate them and leave as soon as possible.

YOU have a huge responsibility the common person doesn’t have. You have the ability to end a life in an instant. You need to understand this, and know that with great power comes great responsibility. Do not fight, do shut up, do swallow your pride (no matter what the aggressor(s) say), and do get out of there. Run if you have to. Look like a “wimp” - It doesn’t matter. You are possibly saving your life, or your aggressor’s life.

Only the most level-headed people deserve to carry guns. It takes a special kind of person. Sadly, that type of person is usually adverse to guns, while the wrong type of people are drawn to guns.

I’m pro-gun, but we need to regulate them like the dangerous devices they are. Most people absolutely should not have a gun for the safety of others or themselves.

[MrScorpio]

23. Great points, all.

[xor]

21. Even less of a good idea if you plan on drinking...

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Police are trained to kill POC

since it's a Pavlovian thing - POC = "animals" and when you feel "threatened" you must keep shooting it until it stops moving.

[heaven05]

7. +++ so true, ESPECIALLY

this latest racist ERA in ameriKKKa from nixon-atwater till this very day!!!!!!!!!!! No "yes massa" this racist era. Guaranteed.

[heaven05]

5. figures, wake up on a godamn sunday

and have to read about goddam pigs, shoot the n*****r first, ask questions later. And a vet. Another reason NOT to fly flag on 4th. Will on veterans remembrance day of sacrifices, domestic and internationally, of all vets, AA especially.


I am getting sick of reading of these types of summary executions. We are talking about this shit!!!!!!!!!!!! Which believe me is a good thing! AmeriKKKa

[Lonestarblue]

8. Result of militarized police.

The military is trained to see enemies as people to kill before they kill you. The police should be trained to PROTECT, not aim for the first kill. Unfortunately, the enemy has been identified as POC and police now shoot first and then find out what is going on. Unfortunately, the POC are dead. What ever happened to the notion of deescalation? What happened is the proliferation of guns. When police respond to calls, they have to assume that everyone has a gun. There’s no way to quickly determine who’s the good guy or even if there is one. That doesn’t excuse the obvious situations where rogue police just murder someone because “they’re afraid for their lives.” But it does make their jobs much harder, so every time a Republican spouts off about supporting our police, it’s easy to say “No, you don’t. If you did, you would be for strict gun control laws so that police don’t have to assume that everyone is carrying a gun.”

[heaven05]

9. if you say so

I'm still pissed. Been a reverse situation, racially, I guarantee the white person who dropped the weapon would still be alive. Militarized and heavily incompetent, cowardly and did I mention racist. Lots of people angry about these executions. Legal 21st century lynchings going on of POC, AA predominantly.

Just as bad as the "Strange Fruit" era.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. Bang! Stop or I'll shoot.

That's how it goes.

[Snellius]

19. Ready! Shot! Aim!

As a participant of many street protests in the sixties, some violent, death from firearms is always the fault of the police. Protests turn into riots almost as soon as they show up. I have never seen a protester who was armed with a gun. Or any form of weapon for that matter, except defensive.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

29. RIP

Jeffrey Glenn Miller; age 20
Allison B. Krause; age 19
William Knox Schroeder; age 19
Sandra Lee Scheuer; age 20

[pazzyanne]

11. Sick to my stomach reading this post.

Feeling sick to my stomach is becoming a chronic problem.

[MBS]

16. Ditto

This is AWFUL. This is TRAGIC. This is WRONG.
The standard operating procedure for too many police seems to be: "Shoot first (especially if the person is not white), then ask questions later."
This is so wrong, and should be unacceptable in a society that is supposed to be based on the rule of law.
I understand that police find themselves in all sorts of complicated, dangerous, and potentially lethal situations that demand an instantaneous decision. But shoot-to-kill should be the exception, not the S.O.P.

The police in question should be fired (not just "suspended&quot and there should be an investigation of campus police procedures.
UNACCEPTABLE.

[PatSeg]

12. And these were campus police

who did not carry firearms until two years ago. Jason Washington would still be alive if the rule hadn't changed.

[Coventina]

17. .

[kimbutgar]

22. So sad

This happened to my friend’s boyfriend who tried to break up a fight outside a bar and got shot to death in his face. You want to be a peacemaker and do the right thing and end up being killed.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

25. The good guy with a gun

Which the NRA claims we need more of. Guess they need to be white,

[Judi Lynn]

27. "Guess they need to be white," so viciously true, apparently, NRA has kidnapped the language.

We're supposed to understand that when they speak that way they ALWAYS mean "good" is "white" or "pink" or "puffy red-faced bloated pig-snouted" racist living an a world surrounded by contradictory evidence he doesn't perceive.

[AwakeAtLast]

28. Those are their code words

[Hoyt]

26. I'm so sorry he was killed. But you don't carry a gun while drinking.

White wing gun-fanciers try to convince us it doesn’t happen. But we know it does.

I’m against concealed carry for a lot of reasons. One reason is that with millions commonly doing it, it has become a plausible reason for police shooting people. And the millions carrying has become a rationale for more people to tote.

We need to train police differently, they shoot too soon in cases like this, and when people aren’t even armed. The racial aspects are obvious. But, even if not the case some day, we still need to restrict guns on the street.