PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The family of the man shot to death by a Hillsboro police officer in their West Precinct parking lot said they’ve spoken directly with the medical examiner and have requested the police body camera footage be released.
Jason Livengood, 39, died after he was shot by Officer Bobby Voth on October 21. Police said Livengood was armed with a handgun and refused to drop it.
Back in 2011, Voth was also involved in a fatal shooting when he was an officer in California.
Livengood’s brother told KOIN 6 News on Thursday the family has many unanswered questions.
“Given the circumstances and Jason’s character, this is so out of the norm for him to be in a situation like that that we just want closure as to what transpired that night and what, indeed, happened,” Andrew Livengood said.
What the family says
Andrew said his brother Jason and his girlfriend had recently moved to Camas from the Atlanta area. Andrew said the last time they spoke, Jason said he was going to get his EMT license to be a paramedic.
The day he was killed he was at home and went out to get a few things at the grocery store.
But, Andrew said, for some unknown reason Jason decided to follow another driver and ended up in the parking lot of the Hillsboro Police West Precinct.
“I have no idea why he would end up in Hillsboro,” Andrew said.
Authorities said Livengood and the other man pulled into the driveway that leads to the secure parking lot at Southeast Baseline and 10th. Both drivers got out of their vehicles and started arguing.
Livengood was armed with a handgun and refused to drop it, police said. He was shot and died at the scene.
In the interview with KOIN 6 News, Andrew Livengood said, “The latest we heard was that Jason was shot twice. Originally we heard that he was shot in the chest. After talking to the medical examiner he stated that the entry wounds were through his back. So, when we heard that our mouths just dropped.”
Andrew said he’s not speculating about what happened at that moment
“I don’t know if my brother was facing (the other driver involved in the parking lot)” at the time he was shot.
“We still respect law enforcement,” Andrew said. “We just want to know the actions that occurred were justified.”
He added, “Cops are human, too.”
They’ve put in a formal request to have the body camera footage released “and now we’re just waiting to hear back” from the Washington County District Attorney.
In a statement to KOIN 6 News, Hillsboro police said they had no information to release at this time, but did say “at some time in the future the body worn camera will be released to the public.”
The family, he said, is in the process of getting an attorney not necessarily to file a lawsuit “but to coach us as far as what we should do next. An attorney by our side can maybe speed things up.”
The 2011 shooting in California
KOIN 6 News affiliate KGET reports Voth was a deputy for the Kern County Sheriff’s Office in 2011 when a man called 911 threatening to kill himself and a cop. He said he had a gun and three young children with him.
Voth was among the deputies who went to the Little Sweden Motel in Bakersfield and found Rodolfo Medrano in a wheelchair in the parking lot.
Deputies tried to talk Medrano down for 45 minutes but he pulled out a large knife and started advancing toward them. After multiple requests for him to stop, he kept coming toward them and four deputies fired their weapons.
The shooting was determined to be justified but Medrano’s family sued Kern County for wrongful death. It was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2014.
Hillsboro Police said Voth has been with the department for two years and in law enforcement for 22 years. KGET reports he was hired in Kern County in 1997.
Voth was put on paid leave along with another officer.