A Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the officers who shot and killed a man with a knife inside a Southeast Portland homeless shelter last month, the District Attorney's Office announced late Wednesday.

John A. Elifritz , 48, died April 7 from gunshot wounds at the Cityteam Ministries shelter on Grand Avenue.

Seven Portland police officers and one county sheriff's deputy were involved in the shooting that night, police said. The officers acted in self-defense, Portland police said.

The grand jury met over four days. The prosecutor's office now will ask a judge to release the transcript of the proceeding. Police expect their investigative records to be available the week of May 25.

Police confronted Elifritz, a suspect in a carjacking, after he burst into the shelter. Witnesses said officers shouted commands at Elifritz to drop a knife. Two Portland police officers first fired 40mm rubber rounds at him. Elifritz lunged at officers before five other Portland officers and one sheriff's deputy fired lethal shots, killing Elifritz, police said.

Chicago-based civil rights lawyer Andrew M. Stroth, who represents the Elifritz family including Elifritz's wife and daughter, said his firm is conducting a comprehensive, independent investigation into the shooting.

"The district attorney has failed the citizens of Portland,'' Stroth said. "The Elifritz family is not surprised by the decision and will continue their fight for justice. A 12-year-old girl lost her father because of the excessive actions of the Portland police.''

Stroth was in the nation's capital preparing for a "Day of Action'' on Thursday involving hundreds of mothers who have lost their children in police shootings.

Earlier on April 7, Elifritz had called 911 to report that his wife and children were murdered, but police checked and learned that his family was OK.

Officers later saw Elifritz holding a knife to his throat and he ran from them. Officers chose to let him go. They planned to refer him to officers in the bureau's Behavioral Health Unit for a follow-up.

But soon after, Elifritz was suspected in an attempted carjacking and then a successful carjacking, a road-rage encounter and the crash of a stolen car before he entered the shelter. By the time he entered the shelter, emergency dispatchers and police had identified the man with the knife as Elifritz.

A video taken by a man inside the shelter showed a group of Portland officers standing with guns drawn at an open door of the shelter as others inside scrambled to get away from Elifritz, who had a knife in his hand.

An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was about to start at the shelter, and several startled men instead tried to corral Elifritz into a corner with chairs, then hustled to get out of the range of the officers' guns.

Elifritz struggled with methamphetamine abuse and had a criminal history that included multiple convictions for stealing cars.

His family members, as well as members of the Albina Ministerial Alliance's Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, have questioned the police tactics, concerned that officers didn't try to de-escalate the encounter.

Two officers fired the rubber bullets at Elifritz: Richard Bailey and Justin Damerville. The others shot lethal rounds: Officers Kameron Fender, Alexandru Martiniuc, Bradley Nutting, Chad Phifer and Andrew Polas, and Deputy Aaron Sieczkowski.

There were four cameras on the main floor of the shelter that caught the shooting and provide a more comprehensive picture of what occurred, said Mike Giering, the shelter's executive director. He turned the videos over to police and has declined comment on what the footage showed.

Since the shooting, an outside agency, the Police Executive Research Forum, has provided bureau instructors with training on de-escalation techniques, particularly for encounters when a suspect may be emotionally disturbed and armed with a knife. The bureau trainers are expected to share the training with patrol officers this month.

Officers who slow down, collect as much information as possible, use distance and cover and spend time patiently communicating are likely to have a better outcome, said Tom Wilson, a retired patrol bureau chief from a Maryland police agency.

An internal administrative investigation is continuing into the shooting.

"What I'm hoping to get from this incident is what can we learn here from it, and everything that led up to it,'' Police Chief Danielle Outlaw told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Rees and Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson presented the case to the grand jury.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian