PORTLAND - Heartbreaking dispatch calls from a man later shot and killed by Portland police show a young man despondent over a restraining order barring him from seeing his newborn son, and determined to either fall to his death from a downtown building or die by an officer's bullet.
Investigators on Tuesday made records public regarding the death of 21-year-old Brad Lee Morgan, who was shot to death on the roof of a Southwest Portland parking garage on Jan. 24, after pointing a toy gun.
Morgan's family told police he was having relationship issues with his child's mother involving domestic violence and several restraining orders, in which Morgan was prevented from seeing his son.
Included in the records was Morgan's call to a 9-1-1 dispatcher, who spends a good deal of time trying to convince Morgan to tell his side of the story and pleading with him not to jump or harm officers.
"I robbed somebody downtown Portland at knifepoint ... I'm about to commit suicide I'm standing on a 10-story building," Morgan could be heard saying in the recording. "You guys need to clean up my body here soon."
Morgan tells the dispatcher of his trouble with the law, and that he had just robbed a drunk person at an ATM, then gave the money to a "homeless person lying on the street."
"I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble lately and my girlfriend's taken my son from me ... and my life's just s----- anyways and I feel I no longer need to live."
Dispatcher: "That's your final decision? I can't talk you out of that?"
Morgan describes how he thinks no one believes his side of the story.
"I'm going to give you a really great deal - I will believe everything you tell me on this phone call you have my word ... You want to be a better man ... not a dead man," the dispatcher said.
Morgan: "I've been fighting the courts and the police my whole life and I'm tired of it ... I feel like shooting one of them right now ... This is the second time I’ve attempted to commit suicide and honestly I think this is going to be the final time."
Dispatcher: "Do you have any guns on you?" Morgan: "Possibly. I'd actually prefer for a police officer to shoot me at this point."
Dispatcher "How do you think that will make the cop feel?"
Morgan: "I hope pretty good cause that's what they do for a living." The dispatcher replies officers don't want to shoot or kill him.
"I want to take one of their lives ... I honestly do," he said.
Morgan said he left several messages for his ex-girlfriend, saying he was going to go downtown and jump off a building. He expressed to dispatchers fears she was seeing other people, and recent Facebook postings.
"What's the best way to die? Get shot to death or jump?" witnesses reported Morgan posted in the hours before the shooting.
A sent text message, intended for his infant son to hear, indicated his pain.
"Will see what comes 1st I'm sorry ... i love you and don't let not haveing (sic) your blood father around mess with you and if any guy hurts your mom show em whos (sic) boss"
At one point, Morgan said he was "cool" with seeing a counselor, but adamantly refused to leave the area peacefully with officers.
"You’re talking like those are your only options .. that somebody has to die and that's not true," were the dispatcher's last word's before Morgan hung up to talk with officers who had just arrived on the scene.
Police officers reported Morgan repeatedly said he was going to "kill you and what you represent."
Officers said Morgan had a hand in his right pocket, then pulled out the gun and pointed it at officers.
Sergeant John Holbrook, a 15-year-veteran, and Officer David Scott, a 9-year-veteran, fired and Morgan fell. SERT officers then climbed a ladder to reach the roof after Morgan had fallen out of sight.
An approaching officer noted a "black semi-auto handgun with his right hand" – later determined to be a spray-painted toy -- and that Morgan appeared dead. The cause was found to be a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
