PORTLAND, Ore. — (The video in this story is from an April, 2019 protest of the officer-involved shooting death of Andre Gladen.)
Transcripts of a grand jury hearing released Thursday confirm that Andre C. Gladen was holding the knife of Officer Consider Vosu when the officer shot and killed him in a Southeast Portland home.
The grand jury ruled in February that Vosu was justified in shooting Gladen, who was legally blind and schizophrenic.
"Early on, Detectives suspected it was the officer's knife," Chief Danielle Outlaw said in a prepared statement. "However, they were unable to confirm it prior to the grand jury. These transcripts provide additional information as to what occurred and we will now move forward in our process, which includes a training and internal review."
(Story continues below)
The grand jury ruled that Officer Vosu was acting in self-defense or in the defense of others when he used deadly force.
Gladen had lost an eye and was declared legally blind after being shot in the head years ago in California. His cousin and friends told KGW that Gladen could only see shadows and shapes.
"He had to be very protective of himself and his surroundings because he didn't know who was who," his cousin said.
At a rally and vigil in April, his family said Gladen would never pull a knife.
“He loved to make people happy. He loved to put a smile on people’s face and he’s not confrontational at all,” Donna Martin, Gladen’s sister said.
(Story continues below)
The Portland Police Bureau last February banned its officers from carrying open knives outside their ballistic vests but did not specify what led to the change. The Oregonian had cited sources that the Gladen shooting was the reason.
Here is a look at how the incident unfolded, according to Vosu's grand jury testimony:
When Vosu arrived at the home, a woman was standing outside, waving to him. She confirmed she had called the police and said there was a man on the porch who needed shelter, food and clothing and asked if Vosu he check on him.
On the porch was a man under a blanket who turned out to be Gladen. Vosu introduced himself several times as an officer.
Gladen's head appeared and Vosu saw that his right eye was discolored and the pupil askew. The original call had mentioned that the subject was blind.
Vosu told Gladen he had to move along, that he could not stay. Gladen then told Vosu, "you're not the police," and asked to see his badge. Vosu pointed to his badge and Gladen looked directly at it with his left eye.
Vosu said Gladen was coherent and they did have, up to that point, a normal though very short conversation. Gladen still insisted Vosu was not an officer.
Gladen stood up and Vosu saw that he was wearing a hospital gown and one shoe on the wrong foot. Vosu asked if he had just left a hospital and why his shoe was on the wrong foot.
Gladen then backed toward the house, took the shoe off and started kicking the door. "And he's making a lot of noise. And I said, 'Hey, you got to stop. You have to stop kicking the, kicking the door,'" Vosu told grand jurors.
The resident of the house then opened the door. A large man, irate, started yelling at Gladen to leave. Vosu asked the man to go back into the house. "I call for cover 'cause this is not going how I want it to go."
He learned a cover car was coming, and to his relief, one with two officers.
The resident then grabbed a tree limb, about 4 feet long, holding it like a baseball bat and threatening Gladen. He refused Vosu's request to drop the limb and go back into the home. With a third warning, Vosu pointed out to the man, "there's a mental health component in play."
The resident put down the limb but did not go back into the house. Gladen then said he was going inside and pushed past the resident. Vosu said at that point he saw concerned about both men.
The resident then went into the house and Vosu lost sight of both men. Vosu asked for his cover to step it up, to go Code 3 with lights and siren.
He then ran into the house with the mindset of protecting the resident and stabilizing the situation. He saw the two men in a struggle and went up to Gladen and put both his hands on Gladen's arm, thinking if he could just maintain order for a minute, his backup would arrive.
He could not subdue Gladen and told him to stop resisting. He also asked the resident for help, but didn't get a response. Gladen started pawing and striking at Vosu's chest.
The officer told the grand jury he realized then that Gladen was fighting against him.
"I'm not winning and I'm not subduing him and so as we're trained in, in the academy, if something's not working, to try something else. So I push myself off and, and I draw my Taser."
He yelled at Gladen to stop or be tased. He took a few steps back to give him time to activate the Taser and get enough space to properly use the device.
Vosu continued to tell Gladen to stop or be tased. Gladen responded, "Go ahead and tase me (expletive)."
"And as he says this, he's getting up. And I can see that he's getting up aggressively and he's coming, he's coming at me," Vosu said.
Vosu fired the Taser, which had a 5-second cycle. Gladen went down and Vosu realized he had a knife.
"I can register what's in his hand is my, is my knife." He reached for the spot on his vest where the knife would be and it's gone.
Thinking the danger level had significantly increased, Vosu grabbed his firearm, stepped back and again told Gladen to stop. This time, he fired his gun. He realized he had also backed himself into a position where he couldn't escape.
Gladen started to move toward him, tightly holding the knife in his right hand. "I stepped back, drew my firearm, I believe I admonished him and then fired three times."
Gladen collapsed at Vosu's feet, never moving again.