Portland police have identified the person who allegedly drew a swastika on the front of a Northeast Portland business in June. Joseph Thompson, 38, has been charged with one count of second-degree bias crime, according to a news release from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). He was identified through community tips after police released a surveillance photo.
PPB said Thompson was already being held in Multnomah County jail on separate charges. PPB public information manager Mike Benner later confirmed that Thompson is the same person who allegedly damaged a Papa Murphy's in Southeast Portland during a standoff with police in May and who was arrested in July after allegedly lunging at a person with a knife in Portland's Lloyd District.
The Papa Murphy's incident happened on the night of May 28, when Thompson reportedly entered the store in the Woodstock neighborhood, armed himself with kitchen knives and threatened employees.
Police evacuated staff and locked Thompson in the store, according to an earlier PPB news release; he became aggressive, breaking windows and damaging the interior before ultimately surrendering.
He was apparently cited for criminal mischief and released, according to Multnomah County court records; the case file includes an arrest warrant and an indictment listing additional charges, but both were filed July 8, which would have been after he was already arrested for the Lloyd District incident.
The details of that incident are described in an affidavit of probable cause filed in court. A PPB officer was contacted on July 1 by a security guard near Northeast 7th Avenue and Holladay Street in the Lloyd District, who reported that he had seen a person, later identified as Thompson, threatening people with a knife.
The security guard told the officer that he had tried to get the man to leave, but the man had continued to yell at and threaten nearby people and also claimed that he had a gun in his pocket. The guard, who is Black, said the main then lunged at him with the knife, nearly cutting him, and that he also heard the man threaten to kill him and call him a racial slur. The guard said he stopped Thompson from boarding a MAX train at the nearby platform due to his aggressive behavior.
Additional officers arrived and told Thompson that he was under arrest, but he ignored them and began to walk away, then started running north on 7th Avenue, according to the affidavit. The officers eventually tasered him, and he was arrested after first being taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation.
The swastika incident happened in between the other two incidents; police released the surveillance image of the suspect last week, but said the incident took place in the early morning hours of June 14. The surveillance video captured a man approaching the entrance of the business while "muttering profanities" and drawing the swastika on the door before walking away, PPB said.
An employee at the business believed the incident was a deliberate, targeted act because the business was "known to integrate Jewish beliefs and traditions into its practices," PPB said in a prior news release.
Court records indicate Thompson was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, one count of second-degree disorderly conduct and three counts of attempting to commit a felony stemming from the Papa Murphy's incident. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at a July 9 hearing.
He was charged with first-degree bias crime, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, resisting arrest, interfering with a peace officer and second-degree disorderly conduct stemming from the Lloyd District incident. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at a July 11 hearing.
