PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – No criminal charges will be filed against a
security guard who shot a man
who later died from his injuries, according to the Multnomah County DA’s Office.
Police say that on May 8, an armed security guard employed by The Gan, a Jewish preschool in the Jewish Community Center on Southwest Capitol Highway, was attacked by 32-year-old Manuel Garza in a parking lot for a medical clinic next door.
Prior to the attack, Garza almost struck the guard with his car in the community center’s parking lot.
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The guard followed Garza to the clinic’s lot, where Garza left his car and charged at the guard, knocking him to the ground.
Footage from a body camera worn by the guard captured the entire interaction.
After a struggle, the guard ultimately shot the attacker, while Garza was on top of him and attempting to strangle him.
In the body camera footage, Garza can be heard yelling, “Shoot me!” several times.
An investigation by the Portland Police Bureau ruled that the use of force was justified.
Garza later
died from his injuries
on May 23.
“It was a wrongful death,” said Manuel Garza’s mother, Julia Garza.
“My son got killed, you know, got shot. And he eventually died, and there’s procedures that security guards are supposed to take on their job, and he broke a lot of those procedures, and he’s not supposed to leave the premises,” said Manuel Garza’s father, also named Manuel Garza.
Attorneys for the security guard say Salisbury was walking to get the license plate of the SUV that had circled his lot twice, nearly hitting him once, which is attempted aggravated assault of a vehicle. He can be heard reading the license plate aloud in the body camera footage.
The attorneys say Garza’s behavior was still considered a threat to the preschool since he was just feet away from its playground, and not near the entrance to the clinic. They likened the incident to if a private citizen was following a car to get a license plate after an attempted assault, or if a school resource officer at a high school was threatened by someone who was feet away from school property.
