Hillsboro cop is haunted by a welfare check that turned into gunfire

One year later, a Hillsboro cop is haunted by a welfare check that turned into gunfire
Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 2:00 PM
By Rebecca Woolington, The Oregonian

Thomas Boyd / The Oregonian
Hillsboro Officer Ryan Johnson was shot at while checking on a possibly suicidal man last June. Another Hillsboro officer was shot and wounded. Nearly a year after the shooting, Johnson thinks about it every day.

HILLSBORO -- Police Officer Ryan Johnson talked to the middle-aged man for seconds outside the blue-gray duplex. A storm door, primarily made of glass, separated the officer from the scowling man, whose doctor called police fearing he may be suicidal.

Abruptly, the man lifted up the back of his T-shirt and whipped out a black pistol from the waistband of his desert-toned, camouflage pants.

And without uttering a word, he pointed the gun square at the officer.

Johnson dashed against the outside wall of the duplex, pulled his own gun and radioed for help. Dragging his left shoulder against the home, he slid out of the man's sight but stumbled into a fold-up chair left in front of the cluttered property. He paused.

A bullet ripped through the house less than two feet in front of him; wood chips flew into the air. Johnson ran behind a red pickup in the driveway.

Officers citywide sped to the duplex and set up outside, their rifles and pistols drawn.

Suddenly, Johnson heard a handful of shots. But he didn't know who was shooting at whom.

Then, over his radio, he heard, "officer down." One of the responding officers, Justin Morris, had been shot in the shoulder.

Eventually, the man, who had also thrown what looked to be a grenade toward officers, crawled out of the unit and into custody. Police had shot him in his right leg.

As Johnson rendered aid to the man, he felt only resentment.
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One year later, a Hillsboro cop is haunted