Why is Portland protesting? 40 people killed by police since 2003

Against the backdrop of current demands for far-reaching change, The Oregonian/OregonLive analyzed fatal shootings by Portland police since 2003, reported The Crime Report.

The police have shot and killed 40 people.

They were suicidal or in the throes of an emotional crisis. Some people were trying to flee police. In other cases, officers were responding to calls about break-ins, robberies or assaults. Most of those killed had guns or knives. A handful had replica pistols.

Those fatally shot were disproportionately Black.

At least half of the cases involved people with mental illness.

None of the more than five-dozen officers who pulled a trigger in the shootings were ultimately disciplined or indicted by a grand jury, despite attempts to fire or suspend some of them.

Those stubborn and troubling patterns are now spurring the thousands of people who have taken to the streets in Portland in the last two months, saying the names of Black Oregonians killed by police and decrying a criminal justice system that too often harms people of color.

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