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Witnesses: Security guard shoots, kills man near East Columbia Lowe’s

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A man is dead after he was shot and killed in a Lowe’s parking lot by a security guard in the East Columbia Neighborhood, according to witnesses at the scene.

The victim was identified Monday as Freddy Nelson.

On Saturday at 6:42 p.m. officers responded to a call about a shooting in the 1100 block of North Hayden Meadows Drive, according to Portland Police Bureau. When they arrived, they found a man with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tiffany Wolf was sorting through her receipts when she heard shouting in the parking lot.

“You could hear the gentleman that is deceased right now,” she said. “He was screaming and you could hear him yelling throughout the parking lot, and the security guard shot him.”

Wolf said there was a woman with him at the time of the shooting who was also screaming.

“Just crying, yelling and he died, he died instantly,” she said.

Wolf said many of of the shoppers who heard the gunfire ran for cover.

“They were running out, people were trying to, everybody was trying to start their cars and get out of here as fast as possible everybody was really scared,” she said.

Viktoria Rounds was shopping in the outdoor garden section when she first heard the yelling.

“We heard a male and female voice and it sounded like a fight and it was getting escalated,” she said. “I saw the security car blocking another car that was trying to get out of the parking lot.”

Rounds said she is still trying to process what she saw and calm her young daughter, who was with her when the man was shot.

“We heard the security guard saying something like, come at me one more time and I have to fire and then he fires,” she said.

Police have not released any additional details on the shooting.

If anyone has information about this incident, they are asked to contact Portland Police Homicide Unit Detectives Ryan Foote at Ryan.Foote@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0781 and Detective Travis Law at Travis.Law@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0395.