Prior to being shot and killed by Portland officers on Sunday, Koben Henriksen had several recent encounters with local police, all of which ended without police force and with Henriksen in a medical facility. On Thursday, four days after Henriksen’s death, Portland police released information describing prior encounters with the Portland man, noting that his death highlights failures in Portland’s mental health system.
On Sunday, Henriksen, 51, was shot by police near Mall 205 after callers reported him walking in traffic and waving knives at passing cars. A dispatch recording from that afternoon, as well as interviews with Henriksen’s father, reveal that the man may have been trying to get police to fatally shoot him.
Police identified Justin Raphael as the officer who fired the fatal shots with a rifle. Officer Daniel Leonard fired less-lethal foam-tipped projectiles from a 40mm launcher. Police said officers tried to provide medical aid to Henriksen but he died at the scene.
“The intent of putting this information out is not to sway the outcome of any ongoing investigations, nor tarnish the character of the involved subject in any way," Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said in the statement. “This series of cases highlights the systemic failures of the mental health system, which continues to recycle individuals rather than resolve the underlying issues.”
Henriksen’s father, Frederick Henriksen, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that his son had contemplated suicide for about six months because of an unspecified mental illness.
He said he couldn’t comment directly on Sunday’s police response, but he criticized public mental health and courts systems that he said left his son to suffer on the street with a severe and persistent mental illness.
“If someone is as sick as Koben was — in a total psychotic break — not being able to force him on medications to save his life — that’s the main problem,” he said.
Two prior encounters with officers in the past four months were resolved peacefully, police said.
On Nov. 14, Koben Henriksen approached an officer getting into his patrol car and yelled at him. According to police statements, the officer asked how he could help, and Henriksen, who had a large blanket draped around him, flung the blanket away and revealed that he had a knife in each hand. Henriksen threatened to kill the officer and took a step forward. The officer yelled at Henriksen to drop the knives, and after some conversation with him, Henriksen did. He was arrested without police using force. He was taken to Providence Medical Center on a police hold.
On Aug. 22, officers found Henriksen camped on the property of Portland Adventist Academy. Henriksen told the officer he was glad he was there because “he needed someone to kill him and he thought police officers were the best option.” According to the police statement, Henriksen told officers he had unsuccessfully tried to get several military veterans to buy him guns. The officer talked to Henriksen, requested an ambulance, and Henriksen was taken to Adventist Health Portland for treatment.
An audit released last month found that Multnomah County is struggling to deliver mental health services to people with serious and persistent mental health issues, hamstrung by rising housing costs and a small supply of residential treatment facilities and housing programs.
The county serves fewer than half the people who could benefit from intensive mental health services, and the bar for state-ordered commitment to treatment is high. A judge must rule that a person is an imminent danger to themselves or others, or unable to take care of basic personal needs in a way that poses a serious risk.
Outlaw said the city welcomes new ideas, citing the Portland Street Response project. But she said such projects would not have led to a different ending for Henriksen, because the team would not have been dispatched to treat an armed person.
She asked mental health services to be held accountable after such events in the same way she said officers are scrutinized after fatal shootings.
“Law enforcement professionals are put in an impossible position, and we need the public to help prioritize effective and humane mental health treatment and demand urgent and immediate action,” she said.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR
Oregonian reporter Emily Goodykoontz contributed to this story.
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