The Lane County District Attorney said Tuesday that a Springfield police officer who shot and killed a man in July was justified in using deadly force.
The decision comes nearly two months after the July 30 incident in the busy Gateway commercial district in Springfield. In the minutes before the shooting, police said the suspect had stabbed two Springfield police officers. Both survived.
The DA’s report said the suspect, Daniel Kahn, was first contacted after reportedly causing a disturbance in a local bank.
After the stabbings, which were recorded on a police body camera, Kahn fled into a nearby car wash. District Attorney Chris Parosa said Springfield Police Detective Brian Dunn shot Kahn in the back as Kahn was in the car wash.
"I know some citizens will question the fact that Daniel Kahn was shot in the back," Parosa wrote in his report. "According to Detective Dunn’s statement ... his decision to employ deadly physical force was not primarily designed to protect himself."
Instead, Parosa said, the shots were fired in an effort to prevent civilian bystanders from being harmed.
"Detective Dunn was justifiably concerned that Kahn could target innocent citizens within the immediate area for attack," wrote the District Attorney. "That concern, under known facts and circumstances, was logical, and explains his decision to terminate the chase at the earliest moment of safety to other individuals in the area."
Parosa's report said Kahn was still holding two knives at the time he was shot. The DA called the incident "horrific for all involved."
In a column written for the Eugene Weekly, Kahn's father, Mort Kahn, said his son had been living with mental illness. While Daniel would "thrive" for short periods of time when accessing mental health services, the elder Kahn wrote that those services had been "voluntary" and came as a result of "direction" from family members.
"Then, either Daniel removed himself from the mental health assistance and medication, thinking that it was OK for him to start up with life again, or the program that he had enrolled in cut off his support for various reasons," Mort Kahn wrote. "In both cases, Daniel would quickly become homeless and without medication and without any psychological support or direction."
Parosa acknowledged Daniel Kahn's history of mental illness in his report on the deadly shooting.
"Despite his illness causing past incidents of violent outbursts, which even led to criminal convictions, Daniel Kahn was denied permanent, secure placement in a mental health institution," wrote Parosa. "By failing to adequately address mental illness we are subjecting citizens, police, and the mentally ill to intolerable risks of violence on our streets."
