PORTLAND, Ore — Officers took a man into custody after he broke into an apartment in Northwest Portland on Monday night, barricaded himself inside and threatened officers, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said. The incident prompted police to evacuate neighboring apartments.
PPB's Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and the Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) responded to an apartment complex in the 1000 block of Northwest Naito Parkway around 9:09 p.m. Police said the man broke into an occupied unit on the building's second floor and armed himself with knives and a hammer.
Officers believe that the man climbed from the roof of the building onto a balcony to get inside. The residents were able to evacuate.
PPB said the man significantly damaged the apartment and broke windows, furniture and appliances. They also said he threw objects including furniture out of the apartment.
SERT and CNT evacuated at least three nearby apartments and negotiators communicated with him for several hours. PPB said he surrendered and was taken into custody early Tuesday morning, just before 1 a.m. He was taken to a hospital for some self-inflicted injuries, but no one else was hurt.
Portland police identified the suspect on Wednesday as Joseph W. Webb, 36. He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of first-degree burglary and two counts of first-degree criminal mischief.
According to court documents, Webb said that he had been living with family in Bellingham, Washington until recently. A motion filed on his behalf said that he planned to live with his mother in Vancouver if granted conditional release.
Webb reported that he used both methamphetamine and heroin, according to the motion, though he said that he was most recently going through a suboxone treatment program. He also reported diagnosed but undisclosed mental health issues.
A woman and her young daughter were at home in the apartment when the break-in happened, according to a GoFundMe page created on their behalf. Damage to the apartment was such that it is now "unlivable" and they are looking for housing elsewhere, wrote organizer Joanna Lukaszenko.
"These funds are to help Kim and her daughter have a temporary living situation and go towards making a new home for them. Nothing is salvageable from their current home," Lukaszenko said.
Laquida Landford has lived in the neighborhood since 2014, and she says she's noticed a change over the last few years.
"People are just super desperate, right," Landford said. "I've had my car broken into twice — that was in 2020, towards the end of it. I had stuff I probably shouldn't have had in my car."
Landford said that she heard sirens Monday night and looked out her window to see three fire trucks going down the street, and she wondered what was going on.
There have been incidents in her own apartment building, Landford said, and she feels increasingly unsafe.
"I think that just goes to show how broken our system is and what's happening with mental health," she said. "I hope the person who that happened to, that they're okay — [that] the victims and the other folks get the help they need from the city, cause that's terrible."
Police have not released the man's name. PPB said they will identify him after he is criminally charged.
Naito Parkway was closed for several hours during the incident.
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