On a regular Portland morning, an altercation turned into an officer-involved shooting that left a suspect injured and two East Precinct officers on administrative leave. According to an official update from the Portland Police Bureau, on September 20, 2025, officers were called to the 8400 block of Southeast Foster Road following reports of a male individual brandishing a firearm and threatening an employee at a service station.
About a half-hour later, not much farther from the original altercation, Portland Police located the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Bryan Velasco-Ruelas of Portland, at another service station near the intersection of Southeast 122nd Avenue and Southeast Division Street, where events escalated quickly, leading to an exchange of gunfire during a high-risk traffic stop. Velasco-Ruelas was struck by the gunfire; the shooting was captured on video and has since been made available to the public following standard transparency protocols.
The officers involved, identified as Officer Spencer Foster and Officer Sammy Smith Jr, with one and six years of service respectively, were not injured in the exchange; however, as part of the PPB’s protocol, they have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. A firearm was recovered at the scene of the incident, and it was additionally reported that one bullet struck a police vehicle and another hit a bystander’s vehicle, though no one else was reported injured in the melee…