The man who was fatally shot on Saturday night during a skirmish with counterprotesters in Portland, Oregon, was a supporter of a far-right group that participated in a pro-Trump caravan, the group said Monday.
Joey Gibson, founder of the group, which is called Patriot Prayer, said the shooting victim was a resident of Portland and was part of the motorcade that clashed with crowds of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other protesters on city streets.
The Portland Police Bureau identified him Monday as Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39. An autopsy listed his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest, the department said.
“Jay’s one of the nicest guys that you’ll ever meet,” Gibson said of the shooting victim, who was photographed in a Patriot Prayer hat at the scene of the shooting. “Anyone that knows him … no one would ever want to hurt this guy.”
In an interview near his home in Vancouver, Washington, Gibson added that he has regrets about Danielson’s shooting.
“Jay was in his hometown walking around and he got attacked,” he said. “So I don’t know what else we could have done differently.”
A caravan of hundreds of vehicles — many flying flags in support of President Donald Trump — began Saturday night in Clackamas, a suburb of Portland, a city that’s been a hub of anti-police brutality protests for weeks since the death of George Floyd.
Gibson said the planned route, as organized by local police, was to drive around Portland — but that a key off-ramp was mistakenly blocked off, forcing the fleet of trucks and cars on to city streets. Chief Chuck Lovell said Sunday that Portland police attempted to take “precautionary measures” to prevent the caravan from reaching downtown, but were unsuccessful.
“All the trucks, no one knew where to go so everyone was just going into random places,” Gibson said. “They split us up into small groups, which actually put more people in danger.”
Asked if anyone in the caravan fired pepper spray or paintballs into crowds of counterprotesters, Gibson said there were instances of self-defense.
“I think they had a right to defend themselves,” Gibson said. “You should have the right to be able to drive through the city of Portland and you should have the right to defend yourself also.”
There were more protests on Sunday night and at least 29 people were arrested, Portland police said Monday.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday denounced the violence and blamed Trump for creating the “hate and the division” that led to the unrest. Wheeler also called on those who might “seek retribution” to stay out of the city.
The president on Monday continued to seize on the turmoil in Portland, offering to send federal forces into the city.
“Portland is a mess, and it has been for many years,” Trump tweeted. “If this joke of a mayor doesn’t clean it up, we will go in and do it for them!”
The Southern Poverty Law Center says Patriot Prayer is a “far-right” group that has been an active force in the Pacific Northwest for at least three years.
Gibson cast Patriot Prayer as a faith-based grassroots group that’s particularly focused on First and Second Amendment protections. He denied the group engages in “hate speech,” saying he’ll pay anyone $3,000 if they can find an example of him saying “racist things.”
“What we do is promote freedom and God,” Gibson said.
While warning about the perils of government overreach, Gibson also backed efforts by Trump to pressure local leaders to bring in federal forces.
“I also think it’s smart that he’s forcing Ted Wheeler to ask him to bring him in help instead of forcing it in the city,” he said.
Last year, Gibson and five other men were charged with rioting outside a Portland bar on May Day.
The case against Gibson is still pending, and he’s scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 23, a spokesperson for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Monday.
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