Hours before shooting a carjacking suspect Saturday night, Portland police officers responded to an earlier incident involving the same man, who appeared to be suicidal and holding a knife to this throat, but they decided to not engage with him and left the scene, according to police dispatch recordings.

That night, officers came across the man again after he burst into a Southeast Portland homeless shelter, also armed with a knife.

The encounter inside the shelter ended with Portland police shooting and killing the man, 48-year-old John A. Elifritz. Detectives on Monday continued investigating the shooting inside the CityTeam Ministries as details began to emerge about a series of events that preceded Elifritz's death.

The new information that Portland police had "disengaged,'' or stepped away from an earlier encounter with Elifritz in outer Southeast Portland can be heard on a recording of the 911 emergency dispatch.

The information about that contact was later relayed to officers working to identify a suspect who carjacked a vehicle outside the Maple Leaf Restaurant in Southeast Portland, around 4:30 p.m.

At 4:37 p.m., a woman reported her 2003 silver Honda CRV had been stolen from her by force at Southeast 72nd Avenue and Foster Road. Elifritz, police said, had jumped into the passenger seat and wrestled the driver for control of the vehicle. The woman's father, in a separate car behind her, helped his daughter get away from the suspect and Elifritz jumped into the driver's seat and drove off, police said.

Then about 7:30 p.m., the suspect crashed the stolen Honda on Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Stark Street, and ran from the vehicle into the Jackson's Gas Station convenience store, where a clerk told The Oregonian/OregonLive he was rambling about suicide and murder while holding a knife to his own throat.

Someone at the gas station, less than a block from the CityTeam Ministries on Southeast Grand Street, called 911. Employees said the man who ran from the crashed car didn't have a shirt on and described him as 6-foot-4 and about 280 pounds, an officer reported to dispatch.

"I just showed a picture of the suspect that we do have to an employee who saw him running from the car and confirmed he's indeed the same guy we're looking for,'' an officer alerted dispatch by radio Saturday night from the gas station.

The dispatcher confirmed the name and put it out over the radio.

"The suspect is going to be John Elifritz. ... A couple of calls earlier today he had a knife to his throat. He was ranting about his wife and daughter being murdered,'' the dispatcher told officers. "We disengaged from that on East.''

A short time later, dispatchers reported they had a call that a man in a green hoodie was holding a knife to his throat outside a shelter door on Southeast Grand Avenue. An East Precinct officer again alerted officers by radio, "Elifritz was holding a knife to his throat earlier today out at East.''

Portland police spokesman Sgt. Chris Burley Monday afternoon provided this information on the earlier police encounter with Elifritz.

About 2:25 p.m., a man who identified himself as Elifritz called 911 and reported his family had been murdered and gave the location as 4400 block of S.E. 79th Ave. The location, though, turned out to be a duplex under construction. A contractor at the location said a man fitting Elifritz's description had been outside, acting in a bizarre manner. No one was found inside, and police later confirmed Elifritz's family was safe, according to police.

Police in East Precinct did locate Elifritz a short time later at Southeast 86th Avenue and Holgate Boulevard and attempted to contact him, "but he backed away from them, retrieved a knife from his pocket and held it up to his throat,'' Burley wrote in a prepared news release.

"Elifritz ran from officers and a decision was to de-escalate the situation by not pursuing him,'' according to police. Instead, police decided they would make a referral to the bureau's Behavioral Health Unit for future follow-up.

As officers were still in the area, a community member came up to them and reported a man was waving a knife and had just attempted to carjack him. The man didn't want to report the crime but wanted the police to be aware, according to the news release.

Soon, police said, Elifritz engaged in a successful carjacking, a road-rage encounter and crash of a stolen car before he burst into the homeless shelter with a knife Saturday night, police said.

Details about Elifritz's state of mind and whether he was having a mental health crisis Saturday are unclear. While holding a knife to his throat indicated he could have been having suicidal thoughts, his family said he had struggled with methamphetamine use in the past.

In 2011, Portland police shifted their practice in responding to mental health crises, pursuing a new approach of sometimes walking away from incidents. They began training sergeants to consider not engaging people with mental health problems if they're not an obvious threat to others, even if they're suicidal and armed. The training began under then-Chief Mike Reese as a result of discussions former Chief Rosie Sizer initiated.

(Warning: Video contains graphic material)

At the time, some applauded the bureau for taking a step to eliminate unnecessary police encounters with people suffering from mental illness. Proponents said stepping back and gathering more intelligence would be more effective than rushing into a situation with a limited understanding of risks involved.

Yet others were concerned the bureau had swung too far to a hands-off response, potentially putting the public in danger.

Police and witnesses said Elifritz burst inside the shelter holding a knife and acting erratically Saturday night. Men about to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting were startled and quickly tried to move out of the way, saying he was cutting himself and bleeding from the neck. They tried to corral him in a corner with chairs, according to a witness's video provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Police responded to the shelter at 7:58 p.m. Several officers congregated at the open door of the shelter, guns drawn. Once other shelter residents were out of the way, eight to 10 officers with guns drawn entered, ordered Elifritz to drop his knife, then fired at him. Witnesses said police first fired rubber bullets and bean-bag rounds, then they fired lethal rounds, and Elifritz collapsed to the floor. The shooting was reported at 8 p.m.

David Elifritz told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he learned of his brother's death from watching a video of the shooting posted on the internet that circulated the next morning. A cousin said John Elifritz, who was married with a daughter, struggled with methamphetamine use but had gone through drug rehabilitation and treatment programs and working to get his life back in order.

Family members have questioned why police didn't unleash their police dog, stun Elifritz with a Taser gun or try to talk to him before training their guns and shooting him. Chief Danielle Outlaw and Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday urged the community to not draw conclusions about the shooting until facts of the investigation are available.

On Monday, police said there were seven Portland police officers involved in the shooting, plus one Multnomah County sheriff's deputy. There were also 12 other officers who were witnesses to the shooting, police said.

The officers who fired shots were scheduled to be interviewed Monday, within 48 hours of the shooting.

Portland police, who usually release the name of officers involved in a shooting 24 hours after the incident, on Monday said they were withholding the names because of alleged threats made regarding the involved officers. Police are assessing the threats.

Saturday's shooting comes just a week and a half before the Police Bureau and city officials return before a federal judge to explain the status of federal mandated reforms to police policies, training and oversight intended to improve police response to people suffering from mental illness. It also comes as the chief and mayor seek more funding in the next budget for a large increase in officers.

A Justice Department investigation found in 2012 that Portland police used excessive force against people with mental illness. The negotiated settlement with the city, approved by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in 2014, called for changes to police policies, training and oversight.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian