Immediately after returning to their Southeast Portland home at about 1:30 a.m. on June 26, Tara-Alexis Ford's 10-year-old daughter told her she couldn't open her bedroom door.

The girl later recounted to police that she'd heard a man growling and screaming behind the door. Ford told investigators she sent her daughter and 5-year-old son into her own bedroom, retrieved a semiautomatic handgun from her nightstand, forced her daughter's door open and discovered a stranger lying on the floor.

When the man started to get up, Ford fired -- striking him once in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

That's all according to 69 pages of police reports and a recording of Ford's 911 call that officials released to The Oregonian/OregonLive this week.

The documents describe the chilling realities of a case that has spawned deep, possibly lifelong psychological trauma for Ford and raised questions by the man's family of whether his death could have been avoided.

"There was nothing I could do. ...He started trying to attack me," the 33-year-old told a 911 dispatcher moments after the shooting, between gasps, sobs and squeals. "I was just trying to protect my children. ...I can't believe this is happening to me!"

But the documents also shine a light on Oregon law, which some critics contend gives residents carte blanche to shoot and kill an intruder with no more justification than the intruder was there.

A grand jury declined to indict Ford -- essentially finding that no crime had been committed. Oregon law empowers a person to use lethal force against a burglar or attempted burglar upon discovering the person is unlawfully in a home. A resident doesn't need to feel threatened or be acting in self-defense.

What's more, the June 26 shooting also highlights the plight of people with mental illness -- and a societal safety net that once again failed to work before tragedy struck.

According to police interviews, the 59-year-old intruder, David Daniel McCrary, had battled mental illness, including depression. He had made multiple suicide attempts over the years, suffered debilitating health conditions, was on the verge of going blind and tried to numb his pain by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, according to police reports. He also reportedly had tried to obtain government disability benefits, with no success.

McCrary's two adult daughters and ex-wife told The Oregonian/OregonLive this week that they wished Ford had immediately left the house that night and called 911, instead of retrieving her gun. They also said there was more to McCrary than his struggles.

They declined to individually speak but issued the following family statement:

"David loved his family and friends. He was kind, helpful, and loved to have fun. He was at home on the water, whether it was fishing, skiing, or just driving the boat.

David's life was unnecessarily taken by someone who had multiple opportunities to change the outcome for everyone involved. He has two successful daughters and two wonderful grandsons who greatly miss him.

David had several health issues that he had worked hard to overcome. The system was difficult to navigate, and after more than three years he still struggled to get the help he needed while conditions worsened.

Friends and family gathered for a Celebration of Life and shared many thoughtful memories. ...He is loved and missed by many."

Police interview Ford

Ford didn't return calls this week from The Oregonian/OregonLive. But in a police interview a few hours after the shooting, Ford told detectives she lived alone with her children and had obtained a concealed handgun permit in order to protect them.

"Ford told me that if at any time she was unsure (about) a noise from inside of her house ...she would make sure to have her gun with her," wrote homicide Detective Anthony Merrill.

According to his report, Ford said she and her two children had been at a barbecue at the home of her children's father in Fairview on the evening of June 25. She later drove herself and the kids to her brother's house in Northeast Portland, before returning to her home near Southeast 122nd and Holgate Boulevard with her children, her brother and his baby in the early morning hours of June 26.

According to a neighbor's surveillance camera, the five arrived at 1:29 a.m.

Ford's daughter told police her door doesn't have a lock on it, but for some reason it was stuck shut. She said she could hear growling and indecipherable screaming from behind the door, and that the sounds appeared to be coming from a man with special needs, according to police reports.

Ford said that while her brother and his baby were still in the car, she told her two children to wait in her bedroom, according to police reports. She said she got out her .38-caliber Sig Sauer pistol and made sure it was loaded, cocked and not jammed.

Ford said she then walked up to her daughter's bedroom door and pushed hard. When Ford got the door open, she said, she saw a man lying on the floor with his feet in the doorway. She ordered McCrary to leave, she said, but he refused.

"Ford told me she thought the intruder was getting up to attack her at that point and she just turned her head and shot her gun," Merrill wrote in his report. "Ford told me the man was just mumbling as he started to get up."

Former squatters' house

Police also interviewed a neighbor of Ford's who said the house once had been abandoned and frequented by people who looked to be homeless or using methamphetamine. The house was fixed up. Ford bought it, and moved in in February.

McCrary appeared to have broken in through a window in the girl's bedroom, according to police reports. A small amount of blood was found among the broken glass.

Nearby, on the floor, police found an empty prescription pill bottle with McCrary's name. The drug, lisinopril, is meant to treat high blood pressure and heart failure.

Police also found text messages that McCrary had sent his former girlfriend. He had been staying with her, she said, and had been drinking excessively the day before his death. She told McCrary he was welcome only if he stopped drinking, according to police reports. That's when he left to buy more beer, she said.

A few hours before the shooting, McCrary texted her, "Good by forever" and "Took all my meds @ once" -- but she said she didn't take him seriously, according to police reports.

Second interview

During the autopsy, the medical examiner found two cuts -- one oval shaped and the other circular -- on McCrary's head. Police speculated that the cuts might have come from gun's barrel.

Five days after the shooting, detectives again interviewed Ford.

"I began to ask Ford about the incident again and she began to cry and became very upset," Merrill wrote. "She said she was not doing very well because of this incident."

Detectives asked Ford if she knew how McCrary got the cuts on his head, but the report states only that Ford "continued to be very upset and at one point said she wished she could remember more."

"Ford eventually told us she did not want to talk about this incident any longer as it was too upsetting," Merrill wrote.

The police reports don't explain how Ford -- as she described -- shot McCrary in the back of the head as he tried to attack her.

Prosecutor Chris Ramras presented Ford's case to a Multnomah County Circuit grand jury a month after the shooting. Ramras is prohibited from talking about what was discussed during the grand jury hearing. He said generally speaking, investigations often close with unanswered questions.

The grand jury was tasked only with deciding whether the criminal case should proceed against Ford, Ramras said.

Based on Oregon law, grand jurors decided she shouldn't be criminally prosecuted.

Other shootings

Police say McCrary was one of three home intruders shot by Portland residents in June and July. Police reports and 911 calls in those other two cases haven't yet been publicly released.

On the afternoon of June 22, 78-year-old Robert McCall shot Stanley Wilson in the abdomen as the ex-NFL football player allegedly tried to break into McCall's house in the 4900 block of Southwest Humphrey Boulevard. A grand jury cleared McCall of any criminal wrongdoing two weeks later.

Criminal charges are still pending against Wilson, 33. He is scheduled to go to trial in late October.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on July 14, a yet-to-be-identified Southeast Portland homeowner shot an intruder during a home invasion robbery involving several people, police said. Anthony James Lazarides, 30, died at the home in the 8300 block of Southeast 64th Avenue.

A grand jury hasn't met yet to determine whether criminal charges should proceed against the homeowner.

When asked what Portland police would advise a resident to do upon encountering a burglar, Sgt. Pete Simpson responded: "Our advice always is to call 9-1-1 as soon as possible, but we realize that every situation is different and every victim is different.

"If there is a gun at the home, the owner should at the very least mentally role play the 'what if' scenarios and be familiar and comfortable using a firearm."

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119