(Headline USA) In the wake of a shooting last week involving a protestor whose gun turned out to be fake, far-left anarchists in Portland, Oregon, who have been continuously rioting since last summer, finally claimed to have a valid reason.
Calling for the abolition of police, some of the rioters broke windows of local businesses as they marched Monday night, hours after authorities said that a man who was fatally shot by an officer in a city park last week had an orange-tipped replica gun.
The Portland Police Bureau said on Twitter late Monday it had made two arrests for criminal mischief after declaring the assembly of about 80 people in northeast Portland unlawful.
Windows were broken at a bank building, a fast-food restaurant, a grocery store and at a Boys and Girls Club, the department said.
The protest followed the police shooting Friday of Robert Douglas Delgado, 46, who had reportedly been acting like a cowboy and doing “quick-draws” with what appeared to be a handgun in Lents Park.
Delgado’s gun turned out to be a replica with an orange tip, which is typically intended to distinguish toy guns or BB guns from functioning firearms.
The police investigation into the shooting was hampered by a crowd of “fairly aggressive people” who showed up at the park after the shooting. Demonstrators that night broke windows, burglarized businesses and set fires, and police made four arrests after declaring a riot.
Portland has been the scene of regular protests, many involving violent clashes between officers and demonstrators, since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
There were demonstrations for more than 100 straight days last summer, and earlier last week, a crowd set a fire outside the city’s police union headquarters following recent fatal police shootings in Chicago and Minneapolis.
Portland police on Monday issued a timeline of events as well as dispatch audio around the time of Delgado’s shooting. The first officer arrived at 9:36 a.m. with others arriving shortly after, and within about four minutes officers reported Delgado had been shot and was down.
Police haven’t said what happened before he was shot. Delgado was shot from about 90 feet away, police said, while two officers fired a 40mm device that shoots non-lethal projectiles.
The officer’s name is being withheld by Headline USA out of respect for his privacy and safety, pending further investigation and adjudication.
It wasn’t clear why the officer fired his rifle as others were using less-lethal options. According to dispatch radio traffic, he had reported that Delgado was “very noncompliant” and had been making obscene gestures toward officers.
“I think the gun’s in his back pocket,” the officer radioed to dispatch at one point.
An ambulance was called and by 9:48 a.m., officers were performing CPR on Delgado, who died of a single gunshot wound, police said.
The officer is on paid administrative leave, authorities said.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
