Michael John Allgood Oregon law enforcement officials discuss two incidents from 2005
An Oregon man who was shot by police at McCarran International Airport on Tuesday after he took a child hostage had prior run-ins with the law and a history of mental illness, police said.
The suspect, Michael John Allgood, 19, of Wilsonville, Ore., about 30 miles outside Portland, had at least two run-ins with law enforcement in his home state, officials said.
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The Clackamas County Sheriff's office said Wednesday that an officer used multiple Taser shocks to subdue Allgood during a fight with his parents on Dec. 8. The Sherwood Police Department in Sherwood, Ore., about seven miles from Wilsonville, said Allgood stole cigarettes from a gas station minimart on March 20, 2005, an incident that led authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Allgood was on life support and in critical condition Wednesday at University Medical Center, said Sgt. Rocky Alby of the Metropolitan Police Department.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas police shot and wounded Allgood during a standoff at McCarran. Allgood snatched a 3-year-old boy out of the Kid's Wear and Toys store across from the security checkpoint for the A and B gates and held a knife against his throat, police said.
When Allgood took the knife from the child's throat and lunged at police, two officers shot him and a third officer used a Taser on him, police said.
The boy was unharmed. Police said there is no connection between Allgood and the boy or the boy's family.
Las Vegas police said Wednesday that they think Allgood was attempting to kill himself by provoking the airport confrontation. Police Capt. Jim Dillon said Allgood said something immediately after the shooting that "indicates that he made a deliberate attempt to provoke a confrontation with an officer to end his life."
Police would not provide more details on Allgood's comment to police.
Allgood faces charges of kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon and felony child endangerment.
Alby said police are still investigating the incident, including when Allgood came to Las Vegas and how he got the knife.
Allgood's parents told investigators that their son had been in Hawaii about a week ago, but they hadn't known his whereabouts since, according to The Associated Press.
During the December incident in Oregon, officers with the Clackamas County Sheriff's office went to Allgood's house in Wilsonville, Ore., in response to a 911 domestic disturbance call, the sheriff's office said.
Two officers saw Allgood naked and fighting with his parents inside their home. He "appeared out of control," the sheriff's office said.
The officers ordered Allgood to calm down but Allgood ignored their orders and attacked the officers, the sheriff's office said.
One of the officers used a Taser on him multiple times and, after Allgood became "fatigued," the officers handcuffed and restrained him, the sheriff's office said.
Allgood was not arrested in the incident. Allgood's parents told officer's that their son had not been taking his prescription medication for an undisclosed mental illness, the sheriff's office said. Allgood told officers that he had taken off his clothes because he was "extremely hot" and wanted to go to Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, according to the sheriff's office.
"Michael was cognizant enough to recognize his mental issues and voluntarily admitted himself into this hospital for observation," the sheriff's office said.
After the encounter in December, the sheriff's office "never had another encounter with him," said Detective Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's office.
However, another police department in Oregon said that about nine months before Allgood's fight with his parents, Allgood stole several packs of cigarettes from a gas station minimart, said Detective Sgt. Dwight Onchi, spokesman for the Sherwood Police Department.
Onchi said Allgood stole the cigarettes on March 20, 2005, and then left the scene, but police later went to his parent's home and asked him to come down to the station.
During questioning, Allgood told police he stole the cigarettes because he had no money and "thought it would be funny just to see what would happen if he took them," Onchi said.
Authorities charged Allgood with theft and set a court date, which he missed, police said. The Clackamas County Sheriff's office on May 8, 2005, took Allgood into custody on an arrest warrant issued for the cigarette theft and failure to appear, authorities said.
Andy Sommer, principal at Wilsonville High School, said Allgood was a "pretty good student" who was on the cross country team. He said Allgood graduated in 2005 with a 2.9 grade point average.
"He was a real nice kid. He was reasonably well-known," he said.
One of Allgood's neighbors, John Drucker, 20, who also attended Wilsonville High School, said Allgood was a "nice, quiet kid." He said that he was surprised to hear about the hostage-taking incident at McCarran. "It seems out of character," he said.
On Wednesday, the MySpace.com Web site contained a posting by a 19-year-old Michael Allgood from Wilsonville, Ore.
A friend, Brian Edwards, who knew Allgood for about four years and who also posted comments on the MySpace account confirmed that it was Allgood's page.
In the online profile, Allgood stated he had been in and out of psychiatric wards and drug rehabilitation centers around Portland for "the better half of 2006."
He also wrote that he had problems with drugs, stating, "It's as if by turning on my radio thanks to the wonderfully disgusting drug of meth, I was beamed to a entirely different planet."
