Sister of man fatally shot by Portland police officer says family devastated by loss: ‘My heart is gone’

Michael Ray Townsend

Rachel Steven with her older brother, Michael Ray Townsend.

Rachel Steven posted “#myheartisgone” on her Instagram page upon learning a Portland police officer shot and killed her big brother, 40-year-old Michael Ray Townsend, last Thursday night.

“Our family is devastated,” she wrote. “This WAS my only sibling.”

Steven, who was born two years after her brother, spent Monday finalizing funeral arrangements.

Then, she said, she broke down.

“I pray to God to let me feel you near me. I pray I can hear your voice and see you again,” she wrote. “You are free now. No one can ever hurt you again. No more pain.”

Townsend was shot after calling 911 for help. Four Portland firefighter medics and two police officers responded to a report of a suicidal man at Motel 6 off Northeast Grand Avenue and Holladay Street shortly after 7 p.m.

The two officers were talking with Townsend as he sat at the bottom of an outer stairwell, asking him if he wanted to be taken to a hospital.

When he said he did, the officers told him they would need to pat him down to check if he had any weapons, and he became agitated and suddenly came at one officer holding a tire repair tool in his right hand as the officer rushed backward, his gun pointed at Townsend, according to a video released by police and sources familiar with the investigation but unauthorized to speak publicly.

Officer Curtis Brown fired multiple shots at Townsend when Townsend came toward him. Townsend collapsed in the parking lot and was taken by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he later died.

“Shot down by police after calling 911 for help,” Townsend’s sister wrote on social media. “Don’t ever call 911 for mental health. They are not trained. I now have no siblings left and feel lifeless and dead.”

She wrote that the only way “I know I’m really alive is because of this pain.”

The day after the shooting, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt asked for an Oregon assistant attorney general to work with one of his senior deputy district attorneys during the investigative phase, subsequent grand jury proceedings and any other court matters.

‘TORMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS’

Townsend was born in Maui, Hawaii, but the siblings largely grew up in Bakersfield, California. Townsend played soccer in high school, attended a Catholic church as a youth and in high school, and found solace in sports, music and God, his sister said.

He took violin lessons as a child but could pick up the guitar and other instruments and play a song by ear, she said. He played with local bands and gained an appreciation for a wide array of music, from religious hymns to heavy metal. One of his favorite groups was the Beatles, and one of his favorite songs was John Lennon’s “Imagine,” she said.

Her brother started showing signs of mental illness in his adolescence, she said. He was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder and later schizophrenia, according to his sister.

She said music and sports gave him a place “where he didn’t feel the torment of mental illness.”

When he played guitar and sports, he was in a world of happiness,” she said. “He was able to function and do well and succeed.”

For many years as an adult, he received care and was a patient at a psychiatric hospital in San Jose. Once he got out, his sister said she helped manage her brother’s Social Security disability benefits.

But when she moved back to Hawaii about 10 years ago, she could no longer do so. Eventually, her brother moved to Portland.

“He was a musician, heavily tattooed, thinking Portland had a little bit more relaxed atmosphere and environment that was more acceptable to musicians,” she said. “But he just couldn’t stay out of the legal systems.”

Court records show Townsend had numerous misdemeanor convictions in California between 2000 and 2016, including driving with a suspended license, possession of controlled substances and disorderly conduct. He was on federal supervised release and state probation at the time of his death in Portland, having convictions in state court for robbery in 2016, criminal mischief and menacing in 2020 and in federal court for an unarmed bank robbery in 2018.

LAST PHONE CALL

Steven’s last phone call from her brother came the Sunday before he was killed.

He needed some money for a phone. He talked about his love for God. He shared how he didn’t want to go back to jail or prison and about how he had suffered panic attacks that he couldn’t control while in custody, she recalled.

“It was a phone call that I think we’re all thankful for ... just to be able to hear him talk about God,” she said. “He just knew that through his trials he could always lean on God.”

Steven and her parents hadn’t seen him in the last 10 years, but her parents stayed in contact with him as she did, Steven said.

“They took his calls, made sure he had money,” Steven said. “They prayed for him every day. They’re heartbroken.”

Last Thursday night, Townsend was staying in a second-floor room of the Motel 6 when he called 911.

“He did what we train people to do, which is ask for help when you need help,” said Steven, a behavioral therapist who works with families of children who have autism and people who have intellectual disabilities. “He did the right thing.”

She said she was told the first responders were aware her brother had a screwdriver or some makeshift weapon before they approached him — and that he had shared with the officers that he had been using drugs, specifically methamphetamine.

Steven said she’s only been able to watch segments of the video that captured the police encounter with her brother, when officers are standing and talking to him while he sits at the bottom of an outside stairwell. She can’t watch the rest.

Though police and court records say her brother is white, Steven said he and she are half Korean, as their mother is Korean.

She wonders if there could have been alternative measures taken instead of deadly force when her brother advanced toward Brown, holding what appeared to be a sharp-edged tire repair tool with a screwdriver-type handle.

Steven said she wants to make sure police are better prepared to respond to such a situation so the next person struggling with mental illness who seeks help doesn’t end up dead. She said she wonders if the police officers or fire medics could have tranquilized her brother, which police don’t do, or stunned him to the ground with a Taser, to avoid taking his life.

“I want to make sure they’re equipped with everything they need,” she said.

Steven also said she feels her brother required more structured, mental health support once released from custody.

“He needed to have a transition plan,” she said. “You can’t just transition from an institute or a group home and be independent. You really need to have a support system.”

Her brother had received prior mental health treatment through Cascadia Behavioral Health and LifeWorks, according to court records.

In December, he violated the conditions of his federal supervised release and it was revoked. He had been convicted in 2018 for an unarmed robbery in downtown Portland and sentenced to two years and six months.

A prosecutor attributed Townsend’s violations to his “mental illness and heavy use of methamphetamine.” He failed to participate in required mental health treatment, report to his federal probation officer or take his mental health medications, according to court records. He was ordered last December to serve another year and a day in prison, but it’s unclear how long he was in custody before release.

Steven said she believes her brother was out of custody for seven to eight weeks.

“There’s such a stigma of embarrassment attached to mental illness,” she said. “It’s OK. He was sick. He just needed the right help.”

Portland police are continuing to investigate the shooting. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office will present the case to a grand jury for review, as is routine procedure in the county for fatal police shootings.

The shooting comes as the city has failed to comply with its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, an agreement reached in 2014 after the federal investigators found Portland police had engaged in a pattern of using excessive force against people with mental illness.

Steven said she believe it’s important to advocate for better education and training of police officers. “We need to collectively work together to reduce the number of killings and deaths,” she said.

Steven didn’t receive a call from a detective until Saturday morning, informing her of her brother’s death.

“They said they had some bad news, and I knew,” she said.

She said she’ll miss her brother’s voice, his eyes, his smile, his laughs and his music.

On Tuesday, she shared on social media that she planned to add her brother’s first name to her son’s legal name.

“We will remember you everyday,” she wrote.

Steven is planning memorials for her brother in Hawaii and California.

Though, she added, “I would love to be able to come to Portland, to stand where Michael passed and sit on the stairs where he had his last moments ... I’d love to go to the parking lot of the Motel 6 and light some candles and say goodbye.”

“I will never get him back.”

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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