PORTLAND, Ore. - Marva Davis lost two sons in one day -- a 23-year-old who died of heart and kidney failure and a 25-year-old shot by police less than 12 hours later.
The Portland mother said Monday her older son, Aaron Campbell, had been distraught over the death last Friday morning of his brother Timothy Douglass. That evening Campbell was fatally shot in the parking lot of a girlfriend's apartment. Police had received a report of a suicidal man with a gun.
Two sons in one day. It's crazy, Davis told The Oregonian as she made arrangements for a double funeral for two of her four sons. I don't understand it.
Family and witnesses say Campbell was not carrying a gun; police would not confirm that. They did seize a pistol with four bullets from a closet of the apartment.
On Monday, police identified the officer who shot Campbell as Ronald Frashour, an eight-year veteran. Police say the officer fired only after Campbell began making statements to officers that they were going to have to shoot him and behaved in a threatening manner.
The shooting is under investigation.
Police were called to the apartment complex last Friday afternoon by a friend of Campbell's girlfriend who said she couldn't reach the woman and thought Campbell was with her.
Arriving officers met Campbell's girlfriend in the parking lot. She said Campbell was despondent and that she'd seen him put a gun in the pocket of his black coat. While talking to police, she sent a text message to her boyfriend, asking him to come out.
Police say he returned the message, saying something about bringing his gun with him. An officer also made contact with Campbell by text message and cell phone. By 5:33 p.m., three children came out.
According to The Oregonian, at least two witnesses say Campbell walked backward out of the unit and into the parking lot shortly after 6 p.m.
Kenny Boyer, who watched from his window about 30 feet from the parking lot, and Ryan Pannell, who watched from a second-story unit, said Campbell was complying with officers. They heard Campbell shouting something like Go ahead and shoot me! You all want to shoot me, so shoot me.
Both witnesses said Campbell still had his back to police, his hands behind his head, when one officer fired beanbag shotgun rounds at him. Police said they fired beanbag rounds because Campbell wasn't following commands.
Boyer and Pannell said Campbell kept his hands behind his head until the last beanbag round struck him in the back. He then reached one hand around to where he had been hit.
Police say Campbell came out of the apartment and appeared to be complying with officers' commands but then his actions suddenly changed. One officer fired the beanbag rounds, and Frashour fired one shot from an AR-15 rifle in response to perceived threatening actions, police said.
They said they will release more details once interviews are completed.
The Oregonian reports Campbell was convicted last January of unlawful possession of a firearm and had convictions for resisting arrest, interfering with police and driving with his license suspended.
Frashour was involved in the 2006 tasing of a man who was videotaping police officers searching for a suspect -- a case that led a federal jury last fall to award the man $55,000.
Marva Davis said when she last talked with Campbell on Friday morning, he told her, My brother is gone. It ain't worth living.
