Funeral of Homeless Vietnam Veteran Thomas Higginbotham who Died in Police Shooting

Funeral of Homeless Vietnam Veteran who Died in Police Shooting
Military Funeral of Thomas Higginbotham, 67, a homeless veteran who died in a police shooting after allegedly attacking them with a knife. Portland, Oregon. 01/02/2011
Thomas Higginbotham, 67, was buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, with military honors. He had been homeless for an unknown period of time, and had been living in an abandoned carwash in Portland's southeast side.
He had been in the United States Army for approximately 2 1/2 years, and served at least one tour in Vietnam. His life after the service was troubled, and he had been arrested and imprisoned many times in California. At least one arrest was for assault. At the time of his death, he had neither relatives, money, nor address. The police, the Veteran's Hospital database, and even the FBI were unable to locate next of kin or connections. The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, founded in St. Louis in 2000, became involved.
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Funeral of Homeless Vietnam Veteran who Died in Police Shooting

Grand jury reports: Portland police shot homeless veteran 10 times after he advanced holding a knife
Published: Friday, January 28, 2011, 7:58 PM

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

Two Portland police officers fired 12 gunshots at Thomas Higginbotham on Jan. 2 when they say the homeless man inside an abandoned Southeast Portland car wash walked toward them holding a knife with an 8-inch blade.

Higginbotham, 67, was struck 10 times and died from wounds to the chest and abdomen, according to grand jury records released Friday. He had two other knives in his coat pocket, and a blood-alcohol content of .26.
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http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/01/portland_police_shoot_homeless.html