A man who pulled out a gun at a “Don’t Shoot Portland” march and pointed it at a crowd of protesters in downtown Portland was found guilty Friday of 21 felony and misdemeanor crimes.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Thomas Ryan found Michael Aaron Strickland, 37, guilty of 10 counts of unlawful use of a weapon, 10 counts of menacing and one count of second-degree disorderly conduct — for pointing the Glock semi-automatic handgun at 10 protesters without reasonable fear that he was in imminent danger of being harmed.
Strickland had claimed self defense during the week-long trial. He contended that some protesters and anarchists wearing masks and carrying flagpoles had called him a racist, told him to leave, aggressively advance toward him and pushed him. Some of the incident was caught on video — including Strickland’s video.
He makes a living as an independent videographer-journalist, and was at the July 7, 2016, protest to record it. Members of the groups Don’t Shoot Portland and Black Lives Matter were protesting the shooting deaths of two African Americans by police earlier that week in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Prosecutors contended that no one touched Strickland and that he overreacted when there was no real danger posed to him. Prosecutors argued that he simply could have turned and run away if he had been afraid.
Strickland is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
Check back on OregonLive.com later for more details about the trial.
— Aimee Green
agreen@oregonian.com
o_aimee
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