Gunman in fatal Portland shooting demanded protesters leave before he opened fire, police say

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Benjamin J. Smith, 43, walked up to protesters at a park Saturday night and demanded that they leave, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court Tuesday.

When some people in the protest crowd told Smith to go back home and to leave them alone, he demanded they “make” him leave and aggressively approached one protest participant, who pushed him back, the affidavit said.

Smith kept yelling and then drew a handgun and fired, striking five people, the affidavit said. One woman died and four were wounded.

Another man fired back, striking Smith in the hip, according to the affidavit and other court records.

Smith underwent surgery and remains at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in serious condition.

Smith faces nine charges — second-degree murder with a firearm, four counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm and two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm.

June Knightly, 60, a volunteer with a traffic crew for the protest against police violence, was shot in the head and killed in the shooting. Police said they won’t identify any of the other demonstrators wounded.

One of them was shot in the neck and paralyzed and is in critical condition. Another was shot multiple times, including in the abdomen. Two others have been treated and released — one shot in the upper arm and another struck in multiple places, Deputy District Attorney Mariel Mota wrote in the affidavit.

Portland police remain on guard at the hospital where Smith is being treated. A warrant for his arrest was issued Tuesday. Once he’s fit for arraignment, Smith will appear on the charges, according to the district attorney’s office.

Police searched Smith’s second-floor unit at the Rose City Terrace apartments about 10:30 p.m. Monday. Police also questioned at least one of Smith’s neighbors Monday night to learn more about Smith. They had talked to Smith’s roommate early Sunday morning, about four and half hours after the shooting occurred.

Police haven’t been able to interview Smith because of his injuries, though he is expected to recover, said Smith’s brother, Aurthur Killion.

Federal authorities are closely monitoring the investigation. U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug said the FBI is working with Portland police and his office will make a decision on possible federal charges based on what they find.

The man who fired back was initially arrested Saturday night after he told police at the shooting scene that he was involved and turned over his AR pistol. But after investigators obtained GoPro video footage from a witness, police released the man. He faces no charges.

The man is identified in Multnomah County court records as David Bumpus, 32. According to records, Bumpus has lived in Portland for four years and works in a digital marketing agency. He has no criminal history.

The mass shooting occurred at the start of a Justice for Patrick Kimmons march, a regular gathering that has been held at different places in the city since shortly after Kimmons, a 27-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by Portland police in 2018 when he ran with a gun after he wounded two men.

Smith, witnesses have said, confronted a group of protesters setting up to march around 8 p.m. Saturday and was seen arguing with several people before he pulled a .45-caliber handgun and started firing at close range near the southwest edge of the park at Northeast 55th Avenue and Hassalo Street.

Police said witnesses removed evidence from the crime scene before officers arrived and many people fled. They’re asking anyone with evidence or video of the shooting or anyone with further information on what occurred to contact the Police Bureau.

Smith’s family, roommate and neighbors told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday that he had often ranted about Black Lives Matter and other protests occurring around the city, homeless people picking through trash on the Rose City Terrace property and living near the park and the recent COVID-19 mask and health mandates. He was known to collect guns and boast about his guns, they said. He also had threatened homeless people who ventured onto his apartment complex’s property, his roommate and neighbors said.

An Oklahoma resident and software engineer Ariadne Conill filed complaints against Smith with the FBI after receiving online death threats from him starting in October 2006 and lasting through March 2007, Conill alleged Tuesday.

Smith had lashed out at Conill and other software engineers after he discovered that the makers of Gentoo, a computer operating system he was using, removed a software package that he used to play music on his computer and had switched to a different system, Conill told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Smith started to make random demands that the old system be restored and then started issuing direct threats and graphic death threats online, according to Conill. He wrote that he was going to go on a road trip to Oklahoma and “when you step outside I’m going to stab you” or he would send “pictures of guns and knives and stuff and say he’s going to come to our houses,” Conill recalled.

Conill said the FBI never responded other than noting that the complaints had been received after they were filed online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Asked if the FBI had fielded or investigated prior complaints about Smith, Kieran L. Ramsey, the special agent in charge of Oregon’s FBI, said his agency will work with Portland police “to determine what we know about the individuals involved in that incident.”

A review of Smith’s online posts show he also has left a trail of hate across the internet — interspersed among his interests in cars, ham radio, photography and cryptocurrency.

On a blog he operated more than a decade ago, Smith used a racist slur to describe a prominent Black scientist, made homophobic slurs, falsely accused a particular nationality of spreading swine flu and appeared to revel in the deaths of six people after a 2008 mass shooting in California.

“let kill! [sic] At the parties, at the shopping centers, at the malls, at the wallmarts, [sic] its death death death this time of year, and i love it,” he wrote, adding an expletive.

In his last comment on Reddit under the name “Polybun” posted one year ago, Smith again appeared to express glee after a man shot and killed his neighbors during a dispute over snow removal.

Smith’s rambling LiveJournal posts from his mid-20s occasionally expressed antipathy toward police and Republicans, but his politics had drastically shifted recently, his roommate previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Smith was also embroiled in a leak of private messages among the adult costume play community known as Furries. Leaked messages show Smith made anti-Semitic remarks and expressed support for the Proud Boys and Nazis.

He has prior convictions in Multnomah County in 2010 for harassment and second-degree criminal mischief. He was sentenced to two years bench probation and ordered to complete 72 hours of community service.

Reporters Noelle Crombie and Zane Sparling contributed to this report.