PORTLAND, Ore. — Court records show that 30-year-old Brandon L. Keck, the man shot and killed by Portland police on Monday following an alleged carjacking attempt, had a lengthy criminal record including prior felony convictions, a stint in prison and multiple alleged crimes committed in Vancouver in the past six months including armed robbery.
Police said on Monday that the carjacking suspect, later identified as Keck, was believed to have committed multiple carjackings and other crimes that morning, culminating in a final attempted carjacking on Interstate 5, after which police shot and killed him.
Police initially reported that the suspect had shot the victim during the final alleged carjacking attempt, inflicting non-fatal injuries, but announced on Thursday that "the female victim who reported that she had been shot was not in fact injured by gunfire." Police said they were still working to determine the cause of her injury.
Criminal history
Keck was convicted on four charges in Whatcom County in January 2013 and sentenced to eight years in prison, according to Washington state court records. More recent court records state that the prior convictions were all felonies, one for burglary and three for robbery.
It's not clear how much of the sentence he served. Washington Department of Corrections spokesman Tobby Hatley said Keck was last incarcerated in Washington in 2018 and was on community supervision when he was arrested again this summer.
Multnomah County Circuit Court records dated July 12, 2021 indicate that Keck was facing charges of reckless driving and attempting to elude a police officer, and that he was released on bail with the stipulation that he remain in Oregon or Washington. There are no further available records relating to that case, and it’s unclear whether prosecutors continued to pursue the charges.
Clark County Superior Court records indicate that Keck was next arrested on Aug. 21. An included declaration of probable cause states that Vancouver police responded on Aug. 19 to a report of driver – later identified as Keck – apparently unconscious in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with what appeared to be drug paraphernalia in his lap at a drive-thru in Vancouver.
Keck fled when police arrived, according to the declaration, driving across a field to reach Northeast Padden Parkway. Keck’s car was returned to a body shop in Seattle and the company sent police a copy of a contract with Keck’s picture, enabling police to identify him.
Cowlitz Tribal Police arrested Keck on Aug. 21 at a gas station near the ilani casino after receiving a report of a person passed out in a vehicle with possible drug paraphernalia, according to a separate probable cause declaration. He had two handguns at the time, one of which police identified as stolen. He also told police he was addicted to fentanyl. He was booked in Clark County jail.
An Aug. 25 court filing by Clark County prosecutors lists two charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and states that Keck was not allowed to have guns due to his 2013 convictions. In a separate document filed the same day, prosecutors listed charges of DUI, hit-and-run and attempting to elude police.
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The most recent records were filed on Nov. 19. Clark County prosecutors filed a motion seeking an arrest warrant for Keck on charges of robbery while armed with a firearm, assault while armed with a firearm, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm.
An included declaration of probable cause filed by a Vancouver police officer states that police responded to an armed robbery on Sept. 25 and interviewed a 14-year-old victim who told police that he had arranged to sell a motorcycle online and met up with the buyer, later identified as Keck, in a parking lot off of Northeast 192nd Avenue in east Vancouver.
Keck arrived wearing a police-style vest and badge and armed with a handgun, according to the documents, and told the victim that he was an undercover cop and the motorcycle was stolen. The victim alleged that Keck took the motorcycle and the victim’s cellphone and threatened to kill his family if he reported the robbery, and that he pointed the gun at the victim’s head at one point.
Keck was identified as the robbery suspect a few days later during a separate Homeland Security investigation into fentanyl distribution, according to the declaration. Officers searched Keck’s Vancouver home, where he lives with his mother, on Oct. 8 and found the stolen motorcycle.
Keck called his mother’s cell phone during the search and spoke to the officers, according to the declaration. He claimed that he had walked off without purchasing the motorcycle and taken it later after returning and finding it still in the parking lot with no one around.
When the officer asked Keck if he had been armed during the incident and mentioned that Keck was out on bail following the earlier unlawful firearm possession charges, Keck became agitated and hung up, according to the declaration.