An officer with the Portland police tactical squad fatally shot a 30-year-old man who barricaded himself inside a Southeast Portland motel room, holding his girlfriend hostage at knifepoint Wednesday morning, police and witnesses said Thursday.

Police said they had previous contacts with the man killed, identified as Samuel Edward Rice of Portland.

Officers from the bureau's Behavioral Health Unit recently had tried to link both Rice and his girlfriend to community services, but he declined help, according to police. Officers also had taken Rice to area hospitals in the past for mental health treatment, they said.

Samuel E. Rice

Officer Kelly VanBlokland, a 24-year bureau veteran and a member of the bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team assigned to the training division, is on paid leave as detectives continue to investigate the shooting, the second deadly encounter between Portland police and a suspect in as many weeks.

The confrontation started after Rice was reported to have pulled a knife on another customer inside the 7-Eleven store at Southeast Flavel Street and 82nd Avenue. A clerk ordered Rice out and called police, according to another clerk who identified himself only as Shafi.

A short time later, Rice grabbed his girlfriend and pulled her into Room 16 of the Del Rancho Motel across the street on 82nd Avenue about 9:10 a.m.

Police surrounded the motel and evacuated guests in nearby rooms. They also called for the crisis negotiations team and the tactical team to respond.

At one point, the suspect was seen at the door, yelling to officers if they came inside, "she will die,'' according to police dispatch records.

During the standoff, Rice also called 911, identified himself by a different name and demanded money. He warned that he didn't want to talk to a female officer.

Police negotiators then tried to place a call to him and talk with him.

Rice reportedly continued to threaten to harm his girlfriend and refused to let her go, police sources said.

A sniper with the Special Emergency Reaction Team eventually fired a single shot into the motel room, and other tactical officers moved into the room to rescue the woman.

Rice was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said he died from a single gunshot wound.

He reportedly was shot in the head, according to sources. The woman wasn't harmed, police said.

The motel manager on Thursday morning was clearing out all appliances, the bed and mattress and even the toilet from Room 16. He said Rice's girlfriend had rented the room for about five days, and Rice came and went.

A security guard posted at the nearby state Department of Human Services building said he'd often see Rice come into the building to charge his phone.

Earlier this week, a Multnomah County judge had signed a warrant for Rice's arrest after he failed to show for court on criminal mischief allegations stemming from an unspecified August incident in the 12500 block of Southeast Powell Boulevard. Rice had lived with his girlfriend on Southeast Powell Boulevard earlier this year, but they reportedly had faced eviction from an apartment there.

Rice had a prior conviction in 2012 for attempted assault against a neighbor in Gresham. When the neighbor asked him to lower the music in his apartment and stop screaming and yelling, Rice lunged at the man and cut him with a knife in the back and neck, according to court records. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian