Portland Police Chief Bob Day released a video on Wednesday apologizing to far-left community members for how the bureau handled the 2022 deadly mass shooting at an organized Antifa demonstration at Normandale Park.
However, his statement appeared to be based on an inaccurate understanding of the event. Chief Day stated that the suspect launched an unprovoked shooting attack on “unarmed traffic safety volunteers.” The reality is that those “traffic safety volunteers” worked directly with Antifa to illegally shut down traffic for their unlawful direct actions. Additionally, Antifa militants went to the demonstration armed and later urged their comrades to destroy evidence, as reported by The Post Millennial senior editor Andy Ngo.
Chief Day, who came out of 2019 retirement to become the acting Chief of Portland Police in September 2023, sought to clarify alleged “errors” made in the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) initial press release about the Normandale Park mass shooting, which he said “forever changed Portland’s history.”
“I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the incredible pain and trauma this tragedy has caused, particularly to the survivors and families of those we lost,” Chief Day said in the video. “In addition, I want to recognize the role the Portland Police Bureau played in exacerbating that pain.”
“Following the shooting, PPB issued a news release calling the perpetrator of this violent act a homeowner when, in fact, he was not. Additionally, the victims were mischaracterized as armed protesters when, in fact, they were unarmed traffic safety volunteers,” he continued. “While we later corrected our written statement to identify the perpetrator as an armed area resident, we did not clarify that this was an unprovoked attack on an innocent group of people. We understand the harm this error caused and for that, we are deeply sorry.”
Chief Day’s statement was not well received on social media.
Journalist Andy Ngo questioned why the police chief was on an “Antifa apology tour” and pointed out several inaccuracies in his statement. Ngo asserted that while the “shooting was horrific,” a group of “violent extremists, some of them armed and with a history of violence, illegally occupied a public area. When a resident accosted them, he shot five of them in the confrontation, killing one. Then he was shot by one of the armed Antifa protesters. The PPB was entirely accurate at the time in stating the crowd included ‘armed protesters.'”
On February 19, 2022, Benjamin Smith, 46, shot five people, killing one and critically wounding another. The deceased victim was identified as 60-year-old June “T-Rex” Knightly, who died at the scene. The 32-year-old individual who was critically wounded, identified by the nickname “Deg,” removed her ventilator in July 2024. Her death was listed as a homicide, according to The Oregonian.
Smith, who was shot by an armed Antifa militant during the incident, was sentenced to life in prison. He is serving his time at Snake River Correctional Institution.
Before releasing his apology, Chief Day said he had met with the shooting victims’ families and concerned community members to discuss the incident. He also commended the Antifa shooter for neutralizing the threat.
