A 20-second encounter on a Portland street ended in a flurry of bullets, the death of a 29-year-old Portland father of two and now a lengthy prison sentence for the other man who admitted to firing the fatal rounds nearly two years ago.
Donald A. Beckwith, 31, was sentenced Friday to 17 years in state prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter for killing LaSalle J. Shakier in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood.
The mother of one of Shakier’s daughters said the girl, who was 5 at the time of the killing, cries every night for her dad.
“You blew her whole world up when you pulled that trigger,” said the mother, Lacey Krieger.
More than a dozen members of Shakier’s family filled the Multnomah County courtroom during the sentencing hearing.
Beckwith made eye contact with several of the victim’s family members as they spoke about their loss.
Shakier’s younger sister, now 16 said her kind-hearted older brother would probably forgive Beckwith if the two could meet again.
LaSalle Shakier, 29, was killed in a shooting in northeast Portland, police announced.
Court records describe Beckwith and Shakier as driving in opposite directions in separate cars on Northeast 66th Avenue when the two stopped and began to exchange words about 6:55 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2020.
After a brief conversation, Beckwith pulled out a revolver and fired twice as Shakier reversed away down the dead-end street, the records show; Beckwith then fired another four rounds, striking Shakier once in the head.
Police found a loaded gun in Shakier’s sedan but determined it hadn’t been fired during the altercation, according to the court records. The position of the gun suggested Shakier hadn’t brandished it and Beckwith hadn’t seen it, Deputy District Attorney Charles Mickley wrote in a memo.
Police said Beckwith ditched his truck, disposed of his gun and fled to Fossil, where he was arrested by U.S. marshals on Sept. 14. During an interview with police, Beckwith initially claimed he saw Shakier grabbing a gun, but later admitted he fired before he knew whether Shakier was armed.
Beckwith’s original second-degree murder charge was reduced to manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
He told the packed courtroom that his actions weigh on his conscience every day.
“Nothing I say or do will bring him back,” he said, eyes wet with tears. “I hope in time the family will heal.”
If only it were that easy, replied Shakier’s grandmother, Margie Harris-Shakier.
“The word that people bandy about — talking about closure — it does not apply when you have a son, a father, a nephew, a grandson who has been murdered,” she said. “There is no closure.”
Circuit Judge Christopher Marshall praised the family matriarch for speaking out about the scourge of gun violence.
“I hope you’ll speak more,” he told Harris-Shakier.
Marshall approved the 17-year sentence, with credit for time served and the possibility of earned time off after the first 10 years.
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
