Henry Kirim had ducked out of his Southeast Portland apartment to search his car for a missing bank card when a strange man rushed into his ground-floor unit, closed the door and locked it. (1/13)
Kirim’s 12-year-old son remained inside. (2/13)
Kirim fumbled for his house key, thankful he had it on the same ring as his car key, and raced to open his apartment door.
“I was so scared,” he said. (3/13)
The next 10 minutes unfolded in a blur. The stranger grabbed a kitchen knife. Kirim’s petrified son managed to dart out of the apartment. Kirim followed and started yelling for neighbors to help. Several residents gave chase and cornered him nearby. (4/13)
It took police more than 90 minutes to arrive. Just before an officer finally appeared, the suspect ran off. More than a half-dozen calls had come into 911 over the course of the bizarre ordeal. But that apparently didn’t speed the response. (5/13)
The wait confounded and angered Kirim and his neighbors. They wondered what it would take for police to respond if not an armed man placing a child in jeopardy. (6/13)
“Every neighbor here was expecting the police to come. We called about a million times, and the police would not show up,” Kirim said. (7/13)
(8/13)
Police conceded the delay was unacceptable. They repeated what they’ve said to address previous criticism for holding back or recent slow response times: Their ranks are strapped by record retirements, covering months of social justice protests and other constraints. (9/13)
Portland has rerouted $15 million from the police bureau to other city programs and initiatives in 2020. The cuts include disbanding police units that work in schools, investigate gun violence and patrol the regional public transit system. (10/13)
The amount fell short of the $50 million in cuts pushed for by some activists. More details: trib.al/YneIVzR (11/13)
The first emergency call, presumably from a neighbor, came in at 12:41 p.m.: Intruder in the house. Has a knife. Boy still inside. (12/13)
“They said police would be here,” Kirim said. “And no police came.”
Read the full story: trib.al/vvM8iIi (13/13)
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