By Matt Day
The Marion County grand jury’s unanimous decision finding that Silverton Police Officer Tony Gonzalez’s use of deadly force against Andrew “AJ” Hanlon was consistent with the law plunged Silverton back into the spotlight.
July 24, just hours after the grand jury’s findings on the June 30 shooting were released, vans from Portland television news stations converged on City Hall, with Silverton Police Chief Rick Lewis giving an improvised press conference in front of the building.
“I’m relieved that the officer acted in accordance with the law,” Lewis said. “But we have a couple of families that are hurting right now,” mentioning Melanie and Nathan Heise, Hanlon’s sister and brother-in-law, and Gonzalez’s family.
“My hope is that people will understand that the process was fair – I don’t think the grand jury could have been any more impartial. Even if people don’t like the outcome, my hope is that they will respect the process,” Lewis said later.
Lewis said this was the first incident in Marion County since the new protocol for investigating police shootings was put into place. He thinks regional law enforcement agencies will do a review of the process. Lewis also said the Silverton Police Department will conduct its own investigation to determine if the officers involved in the shooting and its aftermath correctly followed policy.
“The process is two-pronged. First there is an independent criminal investigation to determine if the shooting was justified. Then there will be an internal investigation to determine if there were violations of policies. We are going to do that next,” Lewis said.
Immediately after the grand jury’s decision was announced, Silverton Mayor Ken Hector said that although he hadn’t yet read the district attorney’s release, he had been informed of the finding.
“If the decision was unanimous, then the facts must have clearly supported a justified shooting,” he said. “This doesn’t diminish the loss of life, but at least it brings some answers.
“Even though the finding is unanimous, people won’t be satisfied,” Hector said.
“I have said all along that I wanted to make sure that it was a fair and impartial process,” Lewis said. “My hope is that the process ends with people realizing that the decision was made by a group of citizens … it’s the best system in the world. I’d hope that as time goes by, people will read the facts and understand the decision.
“But this doesn’t make it any easier for friends and family of AJ.”
Lewis said there were public expressions of both criticism and support of law enforcement in the days before the grand jury’s findings.
“Unfortunately people do have preconceived ideas about things before they have the facts,” he said, adding however, “A lot of citizens contacted us to say they would reserve judgment until they had the facts.
“Understandably, there are people who have emotions that come to the surface,” Lewis said, while others “look at the details in the grand jury report and say, ‘now I understand.’”
The toxicology reports, gathered from tests on both Gonzalez and Hanlon, were not detailed in the nearly 2,500-word press release and were not available by Our Town’s deadline. Lewis said the timing of the release of such documents is up to the district attorney.
When the television news trucks left Silverton after broadcasting live to lead off their stations’ 11 p.m. coverage, a group of more than 20 people, including Melanie Heise, gathered at the Oak Street memorial across the street from where Hanlon was killed. Dozens of candles flickered in the night, some laid out in the shape of a heart and the initials “AJ.”
— Linda Whitmore contributed to this report.
