Updated at 10:20 p.m.

BY LIZZY ACKER and EVERTON BAILEY JR.

A Navy veteran killed by Portland State University police officers in June had earlier confiscated a friend's gun after a night of drinking and was holding it amid a street fight when officers ordered him to drop it, then opened fire, according to police reports and body camera footage released Friday.

Several witnesses told authorities that Jason Washington, 45, repeatedly tried to keep friend and fellow veteran Jeremy Wilkinson from getting into a fight June 29 outside the Cheerful Tortoise in downtown Portland with at least four other men who accused Wilkinson of using a racial slur. Wilkinson, 43, fought with one of the men after throwing the stranger's phone and Washington fell while trying to keep the other men off his friend, according to the body camera footage.

Video shows a pistol holstered to Washington's hip before the fall and the gun in his hand as he gets back on his feet while Officers James Dewey and Shawn McKenzie yell for him to drop the firearm. Seconds later, Washington appears to be walking away from the officers as they continue to yell, Dewey says they will shoot him, and then both officers fire shots, the police footage shows.

Wilkinson had been knocked out by a kick in the head from one of the men in the other group before the shots, and Washington landed near him after being hit in the cheek, ear, chest, back and hip area.

Officers who responded to the scene noted some people running soon after the gunfire, and others yelling and taking video on their cell phones. Other officers flooded the scene soon after. Washington lay on his back, Wilkinson's gun, a black Walther PPQ 9mm pistol, about 6 inches from Washington's right hand.

Afterward, Wilkinson attempts to get up while McKenzie keeps telling him to sit, camera footage shows. He keeps trying to get up and keeps going toward Washington even after officers tell him not to. "I'm just drunk, I didn't do anything," Wilkinson said, according to one officer who grabbed him and later put him in handcuffs and into the back of a patrol car. Washington was pronounced dead once paramedics arrived to the scene.

The encounter marked the first fatal shooting by the university's police force, which began carrying guns three years ago in a decision decried by activists and some students. A Multnomah County grand jury ruled Thursday that the two officers were legally justified in killing Washington, a U.S. postal worker who is black.

Toxicology results show Washington had a blood-alcohol content of 0.24 percent when he died, according to a report from the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office. It is not immediately clear from police reports if Wilkinson or anyone else at the shooting scene was tested for alcohol or drugs. The legal blood-alcohol limit for driving in Oregon is .08 percent.

Wilkinson would later tell an officer from the patrol car that he gave Washington his gun because he "he did not want to make a poor decision during the fight." He said he didn't hear any gunshots and said there was no fight. An officer noted that Wilkinson's speech was slurred, that he could smell alcohol and that Wilkinson admitted to having been drinking that night.

In Washington's pockets were his wallet, which had his Multnomah County concealed handgun license that was valid through May 2023, and his iPhone, which his wife used to find him, the reports said.

About two hours after the 1:30 a.m. shooting, Michelle Washington arrived at the scene about seeking her husband because she hadn't heard from him after he sent a 12:30 a.m. text saying he'd be home soon. She told police she used the "Find iPhone" app on her phone to find her husband's device and it led her there.

She didn't know when she got there that her husband had been shot. It would be another 40 minutes before a police detective confirmed to Washington's family that he was the man killed.

The men had started their day of drinking at the Cheerful Tortoise, watched the Oregon State Beavers play in the College World Series at Buffalo Wild Wings, walked to Rialto nearby after and then went back to the Cheerful Tortoise. Wilkinson couldn't recall getting into a fight, but he remembered handing Washington his gun before going to confront the group.

Wilkinson was later taken to a Portland Police Bureau precinct, where he was interviewed by a detective and told of Washington's death.

"Holy sh—Michelle's gonna kill me," Wilkinson said while left alone in the room according to a police transcript. "I gave him my gun, he got in trouble for that, oh my gosh."

A Multnomah County grand jury ruled Thursday that the two officers were legally justified in killing Washington, a U.S. postal worker who is black. Portland State University officials said they plan to have an independent review of the shooting and an analysis of campus safety. Officers began carrying guns in 2015.

Dewey and McKenzie will be removed from paid administrative leave status following the grand jury ruling and will remain on desk duty amid the independent investigation, the university said Thursday. They will still carry firearms. Their status will be re-evaluated after reports on the analyses are complete, according to the university.

McKenzie has been with campus public safety since 2002 and Dewey since 2014. Both became armed sworn officers in 2016.

The university has 12 sworn police officers and a chief of police who are all armed, according to the university. The school also has other six public safety officers who are unarmed because they aren't sworn police officers.

Michelle Washington on Thursday said she and other family members appreciated the grand jury members' service but were disappointed with their ruling.

"We want those responsible for the death of my husband to be held accountable," she said in a statement. "We will always remember and love Jason and know he was needlessly killed while attempting to keep the peace."

Christopher Larsen, the family's attorney, said his team now plans to review all the evidence in the shooting with the intent of pursuing legal action.

Another friend, Ryan Pratt, 36, told police that he and Wilkinson met Washington at the Cheerful Tortoise around 2 p.m. All three had served in the Navy together. Wilkinson while interviewed again by police July 12, told investigators that he'd known Washington since age 14, that Washington convinced him to enlist in the Navy and that Washington hadn't been involved in any altercation.

Pratt said he didn't know what the argument was about and estimated being about 100 feet from the Cheerful Tortoise when he heard the shooting. He said he didn't realize at first that he was hearing gunfire until he saw police officers

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but didn't know who fired. Pratt said he never saw Washington with a gun

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but knew Wilkerson was armed.

According to police reports, a witness who said he was a regular at the Cheerful Tortoise said he was with friends when Washington walked in with Pratt and Wilkinson. At some point Washington introduced himself, Wilkerson and Pratt.

Later, the witness, Zach Walker, said he was talking to his friends outside the bar and Wilkinson overheard him talking about a white man who he heard had been slapped earlier. Wilkinson confronted the group thinking they were talking about slapping him, Walker said.

Walker said it was a misunderstanding, told Wilkerson that they weren't talking about him, and Washington intervened, telling them his friend was drunk, the report said.

Washington walked Wilkinson across the street as the latter repeatedly used racial slurs, angering Walker and his friends, the police report said. Both groups kept running into each other inside and outside the bar. Walker told investigators that he and other people were aware Washington was carrying a gun, but said he never threatened anyone with it and they assumed he was licensed to carry it because he mentioned being a veteran.

Walker said one of the men was trying to record Wilkinson saying racial slurs on his phone when Wilkinson snatched it and broke it, triggering the fight, the police report said.

Portland State's student union plans to hold a rally on Sept. 24 at the school's Park Blocks, calling on the university to stop allowing campus police officers to carry firearms.

Molly Harbarger and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report.

-- Lizzy Acker

lacker@oregonian.com

503-221-8052; @lizzzyacker

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey