Posted on September 4, 2020

Portland Officials Arrest 3 for Protest-Related Assaults, Threats Against City Employees: DOJ

Associated Press and Stephanie Pagones, Fox News, September 3, 2020

Federal and local authorities in Portland have arrested three people wanted in connection to separate incidents of assaults or threats against law enforcement officers or city employees related to the ongoing protests, including one man who said he had planted a bomb inside a local police precinct, officials recently announced.

The FBI arrested Kyle Robert Tornow, 36, on Wednesday morning in connection with the false threat, which was made through Portland Police Bureau’s “TrackIT” online communication system on July 24, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

Tornow, a Seattle resident, allegedly used a fake name to report that he would plant an explosive inside on of PPB’s precincts. He was charged with making a threat to damage and destroy a building and later admitted to sending the threat.

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Tornow, who authorities said has previously been arrested for crimes including harassment and car theft, faces up to 10 years behind bars and a fine of as much as $250,000, the Justice Department said.

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The Justice Department also announced the arrests of two other individuals on Wednesday: a Seattle man who allegedly shot a Portland firefighter with a ball bearing in July and a Portland woman who is accused of striking a PPB officer in the head with a helmet last month.

Just Tuesday, Portland’s police chief denounced protesters who broke windows and set fire to a business in the upscale apartment building where Mayor Ted Wheeler lives.

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Jesse Herman Bates, 38, was appeared in court Wednesday on civil disorder charges for shooting a uniformed firefighter in the chest with “a round metal ball bearing” on the morning of July 13, a different DOJ press release states.

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Bates was later arrested on a federal warrant. He was released following his Wednesday court appearance and faces up to five years in prison.

A Portland woman also appeared in court on Wednesday for civil disorder charges related to a separate incident, the Justice Department said.

On Aug. 24, Portland police watched as 31-year-old Michelle Peterson O’Connor picked up a helmet and threw it at a PPB officer, striking the officer in the head {snip}

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