The man shot and killed by a Portland police officer Wednesday afternoon in Southwest Portland was wanted for an alleged

and had an extensive criminal record.

Portland police also confirmed Thursday that the man was the driver of a suspicious van that had been following students in the Southwest Portland neighborhoods near Wilson High and Robert Gray Middle School in recent days.

released his identity shortly before noon Thursday: Kelly Vern Swoboda, 49.

Clackamas County sheriff's deputies and the

had alerted law enforcement in the metropolitan Portland region and beyond to be on the lookout for Swoboda after he was suspected to have been involved in a stranger-to-stranger pistol-whipping and kidnapping of a woman working alone at an Oak Grove-area tanning salon in January. The woman, who was bound with duct tape, was able to jump from the suspect's purple minivan and get away, police said.

Swoboda had prior bank robbery and firearm convictions, and was considered to be armed and dangerous, according to Clackamas County law enforcement.

Just a day before the Southwest Portland shooting, a federal indictment was issued for Swoboda's arrest in connection with three alleged bank robberies - two in Milwaukie and one in Portland from November and December 2013, according to federal court records.

Kelly Vern Swoboda, 49.

Swoboda has in the past lived in Northeast Portland, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Estacada and Molalla.

The medical examiner's office was scheduled to conduct an autopsy Thursday on Swoboda.

Portland police Officer John Romero, who was wounded in the shooting, was treated at OHSU Hospital Wednesday and released between 7 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. He's been placed on administrative leave, a routine step taken as Portland homicide detectives investigate the shooting.

Romero, who joined the bureau in March 2006, serves as the school resource officer for Wilson High School and its feeder schools, and often attends local neighborhood meetings.

He's well-known in the Southwest Portland community. Several Wilson High School students who lingered near the scene of the shooting Wednesday said they knew Romero, called him "cool,'' and said he had recently judged a school talent show. He also plays trumpet, and was featured in the Police Bureau's "Play It Forward,'' campaign last spring with The Snowman Foundation, an effort to encourage used musical instruments to be donated to schools and students in need.

The shooting occurred about 4 p.m. after Portland police responded to a 911 call regarding a suspicious van near the Hillsdale library branch. Romero, along with Central Precinct Officers Sze Lai, a 22-year bureau veteran, and Edgar Mitchell, a 9-year bureau member, responded to look for the suspicious van.

Mitchell was the first to respond and saw a van, but its driver did not match the description of the driver reported, police said. The motorist told Mitchell he was visiting the library.

After the man walked off, Mitchell noticed that the front and back license plates on the van did not match, and the front one included numbers that were reported to be associated with the suspicious van police were seeking.

Mitchell and Lai went to look for the man in the library, while Romero went back to the van and saw the driver walking down Southwest Cheltenham Street, police said.

Witnesses said they saw an officer turn the corner from Southwest Dewitt Street onto Cheltenham Street, calling out to a man walking ahead of him to stop and take his hands out of his pocket.

The man, witnesses said, sat down on a concrete ledge on the west sidewalk of Cheltenham Street, with his hands still in his pocket. Then, the man suddenly stood up and turned toward the officer, who was about 15 feet away, according to Bryce Canda, 16 and his father John Canda, two witnesses.

The man looked like he was taking his hands out of his pocket and holding something, and the officer fired shots, the Candas said.

The man collapsed, his head in the street and legs on the sidewalk. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer was still standing, but seen with blood on his hand, and was led away by paramedics, witnesses said.

Portland police said Thursday that the suspect was ignoring Romero's commands, as witnesses reported, and Romero and the man exchanged gunshots at 4:07 p.m.

Romero, wounded in the right hand by a bullet that traveled up and exited out his upper arm, was given medical care at the scene and taken to OHSU Hospital. Other officers who responded used a ballistic shield to approach the suspect, who was declared dead.

Romero was among several Central Precinct and Youth Services officers doing extra patrols Wednesday after police had received multiple reports in the last few days of a suspicious van driver following school kids or slowing down alongside students as they walked to or from school in the areas of Robert Gray Middle School and Wilson High School.

The investigation continue and will be presented to a Multnomah County grand jury for review.

--Maxine Bernstein and Steve Mayes