A suicidal homeless man who was shot in the abdomen by Portland police after officers said he reached for a replica handgun has filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against the city.

Police said a replica handgun fell out of the van that Don Allan Perkins had been living in next to Southeast Portland’s Powell Park and officers shot him when he tried to grab it. But Perkins’ Lake Oswego attorney, Thomas Patton, said his client didn’t reach for the look-alike gun.

“Don was shot on the inside of his forearm, indicating he had his hands up,” Patton said in an email Friday to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “He was basically in the classic ‘don’t shoot’ posture.”

Don Allan Perkins (Submitted photo)

The suit faults Officers Roger Walsh and Bradley Clark, claiming they were improperly trained in how to deal with someone in a mental health crisis and that they escalated the situation by screaming at Perkins before shooting him in the abdomen and right arm.

The shooting happened on Feb. 9, 2017, along the south side of the park, near Southeast 22nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard.

An employee of the city attorney’s office said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

A grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the officers.

According to police, the encounter unfolded after a man later determined to be Perkins called 911 to seek help that day. The man said he had swallowed some pills, had plans to take more and might kill himself. Police responded but didn’t initially find Perkins, who was 56 or 57 at the time.

About 45 minutes later, dispatchers received better information about Perkins’ location, and police found him beside his van, they said. Police said they started talking to Perkins, then saw him drop what officers thought was a gun from the van, prompting the shooting.

Police said Perkins was under the influence of prescription drugs. Police later said Perkins had been committed to a psychiatric facility for mental health treatment, but it's not clear when.

Neighbors said he’d been living in the van next to the park for about six months.

Perkins’ lawsuit, filed last week, seeks more than $300,000 in past medical bills, $45,000 in future medical bills and $950,000 for his pain and suffering that includes numbness, post traumatic stress disorder and a permanent impediment to his breathing, according to the suit.

Read the lawsuit here.

-- Aimee Green