As an armed 21-year-old man hopped residential fences to flee from police in Gresham earlier this month, a Multnomah County sheriff’s deputy raced to the area and confronted him on a sidewalk.
Deputy Adam Suboh got out of his patrol car and pointed his gun at Ladarius Collins, who walked toward Suboh and raised his gun, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Suboh fired six shots at Collins, who turned and tried to run up a nearby driveway, the DA’s office said Friday. Collins, who was struck once, was taken to a hospital and died.
Prosecutors found that Suboh was legally justified in shooting Collins on June 13. It was the second shooting by a Multnomah County deputy within a week.
“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 that immediate action,” the district attorney’s office said in a memo explaining its decision.
The office provided a summary of what took place, along with traffic camera and home security footage that captured the shooting. Multnomah County sheriff deputies currently do not have body-worn cameras.
Suboh was hired by the sheriff’s office in December. Before that, he was a Portland police officer for five years, state records show.
The shooting followed what prosecutors described as a fight between Collins and his brother at the Cameron Park apartments at Northeast 162nd Avenue and Glisan Street about 7:30 p.m. A 911 caller reported that a man, later identified as Collins, pulled out a gun and that multiple people were around the men, according to the memo.
A witness described seeing Collins move toward his brother with a gun when the magazine fell out. The memo stated the witness said he grabbed the magazine and Collins pinned him and demanded it back. The witness threw the magazine to the ground, but Collins picked it up and put it in the gun.
The brothers continued to fight, the memo stated, and the witness saw Collins hold the gun to his brother’s head. Soon after, Collins heard police sirens and ran north on 162nd Avenue.
As Gresham officers were arriving on scene, Suboh was close to two miles northeast from the area driving in his patrol car. He heard the call about the disturbance along with the description of the suspect broadcast over the radio. He entered the area south down 162nd Avenue from Northeast Sandy Boulevard and began checking side streets for Collins, according to the memo.
Driving down Glisan, he saw a man matching Collins’ description with another person, later identified as Collins’ girlfriend. Suboh followed them and reported their movements on the radio, prosecutors said.
He lost sight of them near Northeast Everett Court, the memo stated.
A Gresham police officer responded and drove down Everett to Northeast 167th Place, where he saw a woman pointing north. The officer then saw a man in his driveway pointing toward the back of his property.
The Gresham officer then saw Collins and his girlfriend walking through the back of the man’s property, according to the memo. The officer yelled at them to stop, but they began climbing the fence into the next yard.
Two other Gresham officers arrived and ran toward them, according to prosecutors. Gresham police body cam footage showed officers sprinting through the backyard and hopping a fence into a neighboring home.
“Put your hands up, hands up,” one officer could be heard saying, with another officer saying, “Stop, stop now,” according to the body camera footage.
As officers tried to stop Collins, Suboh heard that Collins had been located at 167th Place and Everett Court. He drove to the area and saw Gresham officers running east.
The body camera footage from Gresham officers showed Collins’ girlfriend stopping as two officers, with their guns drawn, told her to put her hands up. The two officers then appeared to lose sight of Collins, with one officer asking what direction he went.
Suboh overheard that Collins’ girlfriend had stopped but that Collins was running east and jumping fences, according to the memo. He drove around the next block to 168th Avenue to contain Collins and activated his police lights and headed north.
Suboh saw Collins come out from a yard and walk on the sidewalk of 168th Avenue moving toward him, the memo stated. A home surveillance camera showed Suboh quickly parking his vehicle and getting out moments before the shooting took place.
It’s not clear in the home camera footage, but prosecutors wrote that Suboh drew his gun and issued commands for Collins to get on the ground. He fired after Collins walked closer to him and pointed a handgun in his direction, according to the footage and prosecutors.
No other officers or deputies were with Suboh at the time, prosecutors wrote.
Police later spoke with Collins’ girlfriend, who said Collins had told her that police were looking for him and that he didn’t want to go back to jail. He told her if she didn’t follow him, he would hurt her, according to the district attorney’s memo.
Court records show Collins was on probation at the time of the shooting.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson and Deputy District Attorney Eric Palmer reviewed the shooting and wrote in the memo that Collins did not comply with Suboh’s commands to get on the ground.
There was no opportunity for Suboh to consider alternatives or even warn Collins that he could be shot, they wrote.
“Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this tragic loss of life,” Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said in a statement. “Any loss of life in these circumstances is deeply felt by families, communities, and all involved.”
—Zaeem Shaikh covers the Portland Police Bureau and criminal justice issues for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-221-4323, [email protected] or on X@zaeemshake.