Cops: Man Fired Shotgun Before Police Returned Fire

In the second officer-involved fatality in less than three weeks for the Portland Police Bureau, police say a man shot and killed overnight near the Lloyd Center fired at officers first.

In a press release this morning, spokesman Sgt. Pete Simson says that two officers in separate cars drove to the top level of a parking garage located at Northeast Seventh Avenue and Lloyd Boulevard.

"Unexpectedly, the officers were immediately confronted by a man associated with a vehicle," Simpson writes. "The man was armed with a shotgun and seconds later shots were fired. The suspect fired multiple shots from his shotgun. Both officers returned fire, striking the suspect and knocking him to the ground."

The man, now identified as 32-year-old Santiago A. Cisneros III, was taken to a Portland hospital, where he later died. Neither of the two officers were hurt, police say.

It's the second shooting in Mayor Charlie Hales' administration. Merle M. Hatch was killed on Feb. 17 after running at officers carrying a black plastic phone receiver. Cops had been told that the man, a patient at Portland Adventist Medical Center, was armed. A cell phone video taken from a nearby dorm room showed Hatch as the aggressor. After police released the video, most controversy over the shooting died out.

The officers involved in last night's shooting are on paid administrative leave until a grand jury hearing on the shooting. The Oregon State Medical Examiner will be performing an autopsy on Cisneros today, police say.