Portland preschool security guard cleared in fatal shooting when he was attacked in the parking lot

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Portland, OR - The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office has declined to press charges against a security guard involved in a deadly shooting outside a Portland Jewish preschool, ruling the act as self-defense.

On May 8, Eric Salisbury, a licensed armed security guard, was monitoring the parking lot of The Gan Preschool when Manuel Castillo Garza IV, 32, of Wilsonville, Oregon, drove through. A summary memo of the incident stated he was driving at a high speed and almost hit Salisbury.

Body camera footage begins with Garza exiting his car in the adjacent Fanno Creek Medical Clinic lot, and walking towards Salisbury, who put his arms around Garza's neck and strangled him. Garza then tackled the security guard, and they strangled each other during a struggle.

Garza can be heard verbally taunting Salisbury in the footage.

A witness from the medical facility said she heard Garza yelling loudly, and saw him attack Salisbury, then knock his glasses off his face. No other witnesses were identified in the case, and no other sources of video were found to capture the attack other than the security guard's body camera.

During the struggle with Garza, Salisbury pointed his gun at Garza's stomach and said he's going to shoot him. Salisbury then shot Garza in the abdomen and pushed his body off before the clip ended.

Garza died due to his injury 15 days later at the hospital on May 23.

The memo stated that Salisbury had pepper spray on him, but could not reach it when he was on the ground with Garza on top of him.

After the shooting on May 8, the Gan Jewish Preschool confirmed in a written statement that its armed private security officer had shot a man who had threatened and assaulted him.

"During this interaction, the individual presented a direct threat to the guard. In response, the guard was forced to take protective action, using his licensed weapon to defend himself," the statement read.

The statement noted that it was not believed the school had been targeted or that there was any religious bias behind the man's actions. However, it pointed out that the school hired private security because of threats to the Jewish community.

At the time, the medical director for Fanno Medical Clinic, Gregg Coodley, said he was alerted to a man in his parking lot by nurses and rendered aid, putting pressure on the wound while waiting for an ambulance.

"I went out, and there was a guy lying on the ground. There was blood under him in the abdomen, and he was sort of lying there moaning. He wasn't unconscious, and so I saw all this blood, and I wanted to try and stop the blood. He moved up his shirt, and he had a big bullet hole in what we call the left upper quadrant," he said.

The shooting did not occur on school grounds. Parents and guardians were notified at the time.

Detectives Farrar and Winters of the Portland Police Bureau investigated the incident, and Deputy District Attorney Andrew Wood reviewed the findings. The investigation concluded that Salisbury's actions were justified under Oregon law.

Under Oregon law, the use of deadly force is justified when a person reasonably believes they are in imminent danger of unlawful physical force. The District Attorney's Office affirmed that Salisbury's use of force met this legal standard.