Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez announced late Friday afternoon that he has determined a fatal police shooting of an armed suspect two weeks ago in Gresham was justified and didn’t break Oregon law.

While criminal charges are almost unheard of for law enforcement officers who use deadly force in Oregon, Vasquez’s decision-making process differed from his recent predecessors: He did not present the case to a grand jury, which typically decides whether an officer followed the law.

Multnomah County Deputy Adam Suboh’s use of deadly force was “justified and, therefore, not criminal under Oregon law,” Vasquez said in a statement. He called the incident a tragedy.

Vasquez declined an interview request to discuss why he broke from recent practice, but said in an email that he did so “in the name of transparency and expediency.”

“We want to give the community the fastest and most detailed legal analysis possible in this incident,” Vasquez said.

While it is a departure in practice, the official written policy did not change after Vasquez took over the office in January. It remains the same as the one used by his predecessor.

Vasquez noted that a lengthy legal memo also released Friday gives the community “easily digestible, readily available information on what happened and why it happened.”

Still, civil rights attorneys who have sued police over deadly force say they’re concerned about what appears to be a departure from the county’s established norms.

New details about shooting revealed

The memo, written by Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson and Deputy District Attorney Eric Palmer, detailed how the prosecutors analyzed the June 13 shooting, which was spurred by a turbulent confrontation between Ladarius Collins, 21, and his brother near Northeast Glisan Street and 162nd Avenue.

Along with the memo, prosecutors released a produced video based on several body cameras and other footage. It captured some of the events prior to the shooting, the shooting itself and how officers responded afterwards.

Prosecutors wrote that Collins reportedly cocked a handgun, grabbed his brother by the throat and held the gun to his head, a witness told 911 dispatchers prior to police arriving.

As officers from the Gresham Police Department and Multnomah County deputies began to arrive, Collins fled the scene. A foot chase eventually led deputies into a nearby neighborhood.

At one point, a Gresham police officer looked over a fence and saw Collins nearby “racking the slide of a black semi-automatic handgun,” Jackson wrote. The officer yelled at Collins multiple times to drop the handgun, prosecutors said.

Shortly after, Suboh pulled up in his patrol car and drew his weapon. He told Collins to get on the ground, prosecutors stated in their memo.

“When Mr. Collins was about 20 feet away, Deputy Suboh saw him produce a handgun, raise it, and point it directly at him,” prosecutors wrote. “Due to the speed, proximity, and the threat presented, Deputy Suboh did not believe it was feasible to consider de-escalation tactics, lesser force options, or to issue a force warning prior to firing.”

Suboh fired six shots. The shooting was captured in the video.

Collins died after being taken to a hospital. Investigators recovered a black, SCCY 9-millimeter handgun from the driveway. The handgun was loaded, prosecutors wrote. A slide added to the video stated that Collins’ handgun had malfunctioned and jammed.

The prosecutors noted that Collins died from “one bullet that entered behind his left shoulder.”

The shooting was investigated by the Gresham Police Department and East County Major Crimes.

Grand jury process

Deadly force cases like these typically spawn multiple inquiries, ranging from internal affairs reviews, which look at whether police followed the agency handbook, to criminal investigations that explore whether an officer broke any laws. Some cases also lead to civil rights lawsuits.

Immediately after deadly force is used, detectives interview involved parties, talk with witnesses and collect evidence. Their investigation is the first official review of any incident.

Multnomah County has relied on grand juries in most, if not all, deadly encounters involving police in recent years. During grand juries, community members learn the investigation’s findings from prosecutors, hear testimony from detectives and witnesses, and are able to scrutinize the moments when officers exercise deadly force. Grand jury transcripts are later released and posted publicly.

When asked, a spokesperson for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office didn’t know the last time a district attorney used their discretion and bypassed a grand jury in a deadly police shooting.

Oregon law does not require a grand jury impaneling. The law instead requires district attorneys to have a policy that lays out how they’ll deal with deadly force when it occurs.

Multnomah County District Attorney’s policy states that a “grand jury will review all cases involving a law enforcement officer’s discharge of a firearm which results in death, serious physical injury or physical injury unless at the discretion of the District Attorney it is determined that grand jury view is unwarranted.”

Other district attorneys have taken further steps in deadly force cases. In recent years, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has regularly enlisted lawyers from the Oregon Department of Justice to assist with police shooting reviews in order to add an outsider’s perspective. Across the Columbia River, Clark County’s top prosecutor routinely calls upon other county prosecutors to review deadly force cases in his jurisdiction.

Oregon’s laws on deadly force say it may only occur when it is “objectively reasonable, under the totality of the circumstances known to the peace officer, to believe that the person poses an imminent threat of death or serious injury.”

Here, prosecutors say Collins was running from police through a neighborhood while armed.

“Mr. Collins continued to advance on Deputy Suboh, produced a firearm, and pointed it directly at the deputy at extremely close range,” prosecutors wrote in the legal analysis.

By the time Suboh had arrived, prosecutors noted, the deputy knew Collins was armed and that he refused a Gresham officer’s command to drop the gun.

“Deputy Suboh felt compelled to fire on Mr. Collins in that moment because he reasonably believed, given everything that had occurred to that point, he was going to be shot and killed if he did not take immediate action,” the prosecutors wrote.

Vasquez’s statements Friday didn’t address the criteria the district attorney uses to decide whether or not to involve a grand jury. His office did not immediately provide details about how they will decide which shootings can be expedited this way and which should follow the historical process.

Civil rights attorneys who have sued police agencies in Oregon for deadly force said Friday they were alarmed to learn that the district attorney had made a decision without a grand jury.

Juan Chavez, a civil rights attorney who has represented victims of police deadly force in Multnomah County, said even in shootings that appear to be clear-cut, questions typically remain that would benefit from grand jury involvement.

“I could understand where the officer could have feared for his life when Collins raised his arm,” Chavez said, referencing the video prosecutors released Friday. “It appears Collins had already turned around from the officer and fell forward after shots were fired, which would indicate he was shot in the back. There should be questions asked when an officer shoots someone in the back.”

Chavez said bypassing a grand jury appears to only benefit police.

“It is going to send a message to the police that this DA isn’t going to hold their feet to the fire when their work is questioned,” Chavez said.

Jesse Merrithew, another Portland civil rights attorney who has investigated more than a dozen police shootings, said this a blow for transparency because it’s often the only account the community gets directly from the officer.

“The public only has the grand jury transcripts to assess whether these public employees did the right thing in taking the life of a member of our community,” he said. “Taking this away for one case would be incredibly short sighted.”

Merrithew also cautioned that future shootings could face greater scrutiny that would not have been there if grand juries were used uniformly.

“Certainly this particular police officer may applaud the decision and will benefit from the decision. But what about the next police officer who uses deadly force on the job?” Merrithew asked. “If the DA elects to bring that shooting to a grand jury, what message does that send to the police officer? To the public?”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/27/fatal-shooting-gresham-justfied-multnomah-county-district-attorney-vasquez/