PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A nearly 12-hour armed standoff on Friday in Portland’s Hazelwood neighborhood ended with an arrest after police shut down Northeast 122nd Avenue and asked residents to shelter in place.
Portland Police provided an update on Saturday morning, saying the suspect involved was identified and booked into jail on multiple charges.
Bennie D. Miller IV, 39, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of coercion, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, and felon in possession of a firearm; all charges are for domestic violence. He also is charged with first-degree criminal mischief for causing serious damage to two police robots assigned to the Explosives Disposal Unit.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Hours long standoff, hostage situation at NE Portland apartment ends with man in custody
Portland Police said officers responded at 5:37 a.m. Friday, June 5 to a report of an armed person inside an apartment who was not letting a victim leave. Police established a safety perimeter, asked residents to stay inside and closed Northeast 122nd Avenue in both directions. The initial closure was described as Northeast 122nd Avenue from Northeast Halsey Street to Northeast Holladay Street.
Police said the adult female victim came out of the apartment at about 8 a.m. and was unhurt and safe with officers, while the adult male suspect remained inside and was believed to be armed. No injuries were reported.
According to police, the suspect refused to surrender for nearly 12 hours despite de-escalation efforts that included communications from the Crisis Negotiation Team.
A K-9 and multiple officers took him into custody at 5:32 p.m. Police said he was being evaluated by medical services.
Police said the shelter-in-place request was lifted after the arrest and community members could resume normal activities. Northeast 122nd Avenue was expected to reopen shortly after tactical teams packed up vehicles and equipment.
Detectives with the Special Victims Unit are leading the investigation, police said. The suspect’s handgun was seized as evidence. Police also credited Portland Fire & Rescue and East Metro SWAT for assistance in the response.
The jail booking information identifying Miller was published at 7:27 a.m. June 5 and updated at 9:09 a.m. June 6.
Victim says he’s done this before
A KATU reporter at the scene spoke to the freed hostage Friday evening shortly before the suspect was arrested. She did not want to be identified but told KATU that she was held hostage by her boyfriend at gunpoint while on the phone with her sister. Her sister called 911. The man let her go when police arrived. She said he threatened to kill himself when police told him he was surrounded.
The woman said her boyfriend has mental health issues and has done this before.
Before he was arrested, the man appeared several times on the roof of the apartment complex. He appeared to say things to officers below.
Police said the man went to the roof after they deployed CS gas. They also used several munitions, including flash-sound devices and OC vapor.
“He spent a lot of time in that [gas] and was affected, but not enough to convince him to give up,” said Sgt. Kevin Allen. “So, eventually enough gas was deployed that it convinced him to go out, but he was able to climb up onto the roof of the apartment building. He was up there for a while too.”
Allen said the suspect being on the roof made things more complicated.
“We were really concerned about the safety of everyone with him being up there,” Allen said. “He’s in an elevated position. Obviously, we knew he had a gun at one point, so we didn’t know if there was a gun involved up there.”
“We worried about him falling and we worried about putting officers up there to confront him because they also had the risk of falling, so the efforts were made for quite a while to resolve this,” he continued. “And the incident commanders are always doing this cost-benefit analysis in their heads.”
Officers dressed in full armor used a Portland Fire & Rescue bucket truck to deploy officers to the apartment’s roof.
“When confronted by the police on the roof, the suspect grabbed a branch of a nearby tree and used it to swing down to the ground,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a news release.
Officers and a police dog were there to meet him and took him into custody. They said he was being medically evaluated.
“He fell a ways, but amazingly, not injured as far as we can tell from the fall from the second floor,” said Allen.
While police kept people back during the standoff, spectators crowded behind police tape to watch the incident unfold.
Allen confirmed with KATU that police have responded to the apartment unit before and said there are other investigations going on.”At this point right now, we’re just gonna charge him for crimes committed today, but they’re investigating some of those previous cases to see if maybe now that we have additional information, there might be enough to level some additional charges,” Allen said.
Amiya Barber knows the people involved. She spoke with KATU after the suspect was taken into custody.
“It was very upsetting because I know that he has a daughter, and his daughter would be very disappointed in him,” Barber said. “It was also very upsetting because I know that he could be a good person, maybe he just doesn’t wanna open up to anybody about it.”
“I’m very upset with him, but I’m glad he’s OK and he can go and get the mental health that he needs,” she added. “Hopefully he does, and I’m glad that she is OK because it would have been very, very bad if she ended up injured.”
