Portland Officer Dies, Two Hurt In Shootout Police Involved In Drug Investigation Fired On As They Burst Through Door

Three officers were shot - one fatally - Tuesday as they forced their way through the door of a home that neighbors say was stocked with high-powered weapons.

Police with black body armor and shields surrounded the house and three hours later fired on the lone suspect inside. He was stripped by officers and driven away naked and bleeding on the tailgate of an armored SWAT van.

Police spokesman Cliff Madison said the three officers involved in a drug investigation went to the home in southeast Portland just before noon.

“They knocked down the door and they were met by gunfire,” he said.

One of the officers, a woman, was dead on arrival at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital. Another female officer was in critical condition with wounds to the chest and arm. A third officer, a man, was treated at the scene for a gunshot wound to the hand.

Trauma surgeon Dr. Linda Erwin said it appeared the bullets were fired by a high-powered assault weapon that, in the case of both seriously wounded officers, tore through their bulletproof vests.

The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Steven Dons, was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach.

Those who once worked with Dons at the Astro Jet gas station and car wash across the street said he often bragged about his connection to drugs and weapons. “He used to say, ‘He could have it done,”’ said former co-worker Dave Shaddon. “If someone made him mad - he could take them off this Earth.”

A neighbor who gave his name as Jim told KOIN-TV that “it sounded like a war zone out there” when dozens of shots rang out.

He said the occupant was known to have a large arsenal of weapons - including AK-47 assault rifles - and that police had been called to the small gray house weeks before on complaints of weapons being fired.

“I looked out and saw a couple of cops pull another one out,” said Devin Moore, who was working at his parents’ convenience store across the street from the shooting.

After the shooting at the home at Southeast 111th and Division Street, about 70 officers descended on the area around the house. Some officers kneeled behind squad cars, others carried plastic shields.

Residents, some carrying babies, scrambled outside. Others were warned to stay inside. The area was blocked off to traffic and police told a school in the area to keep pupils inside.

Madison said it appeared the suspect inside the house followed police movements by watching live coverage from news helicopters that hovered overhead.

“You are endangering police officers’ lives,” an angry police Chief Charles Moose told reporters afterward. “We asked you again and again and again to get out of there.”