The man shot and killed by Portland police Saturday after fatally shooting a security officer inside Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center has been identified as PoniaX Kane Calles, a 33-year-old city resident who had made threats to staff at the hospital in the days leading up to the shooting.
Calles previously went by the name Reginald Kane Jackson. He formally changed his name in 2019.
He had an extensive arrest history from California before arriving in Oregon around 2012, as well as a history of mental illness, court records indicate.
Three Portland officers fired gunshots at Calles after police from multiple agencies had stopped a van he was riding in outside the U.S. Bank on Northeast 181st Avenue in Gresham Saturday afternoon. Witnesses in the area told The Oregonian/OregonLive they heard three very loud gunshots – two consecutive shots, followed by a pause and then a third shot.
Police from across the city had responded earlier Saturday to a report of an active shooter at the hospital in Northwest Portland.
Calles had made threats to staff at the hospital in the days leading up to the shooting.
Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, Calles is accused of pulling a gun and fatally shooting Legacy security officer Bobby Smallwood, 44, in a hallway on the fifth floor maternity floor.
A second employee was injured from shrapnel, according to the hospital. Smallwood typically worked at Legacy’s Randall Children’s Hospital but was filling a shift at Good Sam on Saturday. His parents told The Oregonian/OregonLive their son was shot in the chest. He was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
A manhunt ensued following the hospital shooting, with police evacuating the Stadium Fred Meyer store in Northwest Portland in search of the gunman and later the police stop of a white-and-maroon van in Gresham.
Calles changed his name in April 2019, according to Multnomah County court records.
Under his original name of Jackson, he had prior convictions for attempted second-degree assault and reckless driving from 2016 in Multnomah County.
His most recent conviction under his changed name of Calles was in 2020 after he was stopped the prior year for driving with a suspended license in Washington County, according to court records. He was placed on one year of probation, ordered to complete 48 hours of community service and pay a $1,300 fine.
In a May 2021 handwritten letter to the court, he described himself as a single father and family man who couldn’t afford the fine because he isn’t able to get steady work. “I rarely get work for odd jobs aka gig work,” he wrote.
He wrote, “America The Great,” at the top of the letter and signed it, “United We Stand, your citizen poniax calles.”
The court ended up shaving off $300 of the $1,300 fine.
Under his original name, he was convicted in 2016 of stabbing another man in the face with a knife after a dispute at a Boxer Ramen restaurant in Northeast Portland.
At that time, he was attending Alcoholics Anonymous on and off, and suffered from depression, according to court records. He had chased two women into the restaurant, walked up to a stranger’s table, asked, “Does it taste good?” and got into a fight with a man seated at the table who asked him to leave him alone. The two ended up fighting in front of the restaurant, where he stabbed the other man and ran off, according to court records. Under the name Jackson, he pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault and was placed on probation for three years, ordered to undergo drug treatment and have a mental health evaluation.
On November 18, 2019, he was arrested in Multnomah County on a third-degree criminal mischief allegation. At the time, he gave an address on Southwest Columbia Street. The next month, prosecutors dropped the charge. In March of this year, he filed a motion to set aside the arrest record, providing a different address on Northeast Sandy Boulevard.
He has a prior criminal arrest history in California dating back to 2004, including arrests for attempted murder, robbery, battery, disorderly conduct, vandalism , as well as a 2016 mental health commitment, according to court records.
Marcy Jensen, who worked as a nurse at Legacy Good Sam for 10 years before leaving in late June to move out of state, said the staff have been extremely concerned about safety at the hospital for some time.
“This is something we all saw coming,” said Jensen, a cardiac nurse who was the hospital’s nurse of the year in 2021.
While there are metal detectors at the emergency department entrance, there are none at two other entrances to the hospital, she said.
“You can’t make one secure location and have two unsecure locations,” she said. “That doesn’t do anything for the staff. We have complained multiple times to the higher ups. They’re unwilling to take responsibility. It was bound to happen, to be honest.”
This is a developing story.
— Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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