This explains why everyone was so tight-lipped in the immediate aftermath of today's officer-involved shooting. The Portland Police Bureau tonight released an updated account of what happened, and it contains a very troubling revelation:

The suspect did not comply with police commands and an officer fired a less-lethal beanbag shotgun five times. As officers were taking the suspect into custody, it was discovered that the less lethal beanbag shotgun was loaded with lethal shotgun rounds. Officers provided immediate medical care and called for an ambulance.

The bureau says five pellets hit the man in the hip area. His wounds are still considered non-life-threatening. Detectives also apparently don't know who he is yet.

We're all lucky the man's injuries weren't life threatening. The bureau says it's investigating how the mix-up happened and includes a general explanation of its safeguards, which, in this case, didn't work. The officer in the shooting has been with the police bureau for 15 years and will be placed on leave.

The Police Bureau began carrying less lethal beanbag shotguns in the mid-1990s. An incident like this has never occurred prior to today. Training protocols require the officers who are certified in this weapon to visually inspect each round. Lethal rounds are red and blue and less lethal rounds are yellow and clear in color. Officers are required to also do a safety check and load the weapon at the beginning of their shift.

"We are just at the beginning stages of this investigation," says Chief Michael Reese. "Our training protocols are designed to prevent this from happening. I have instructed supervisors to immediately remind every less lethal beanbag shotgun operator to visually inspect each round as they are loaded into the weapon and review less lethal beanbag shotgun training protocols."

Click through to see the full release.

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• Denis C. Theriault
• Officials including Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese discuss the details of the shooting before a police spokesman provides an update to reporters.

But after talking to neighbors and more witnesses, we do know a bit more than we did earlier this afternoon when I called in our last dispatch to Sarah. But first! A recap of the bare bones of that report for anyone who didn't read that post: Cops were called when a man was reported bothering children attending a day camp at Lair Hill Park in Southwest, with one caller reporting the man had a knife. The man was chased to a grassy spot behind Caro Amico, an Italian restaurant whose front entrance is up on SW Barbur but with parking down the hill on Naito. The man was shot by what cops say, so far, was one round. He was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Update 5:40 PM: KGW is reporting, according to an interview paramedics, that the man was bleeding from a gunshot wound to his leg and and was taken uphill to Oregon Health and Science University for treatment.

What's new?

Contrary to what one witness, Jay Smith, suggested, the man does not appear to have climbed from beneath an underpass along Naito east of Caro Amico. A camper down in the underpass—the underbelly of an entrance ramp leading from Barbur to northbound Naito—said no one matching the description of the man who was shot (long hair, black shorts, and a T-shirt) had been crashing there or had even run through there.

The camper said he heard someone scramble down from the road above onto Naito and then run toward Caro Amico.

"There was some yelling and screaming," said the man, who declined to give his name. "I caught a glimpse of him running by and then all of a sudden blam-blam-blam-blam"—four or five gunshots.

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This just in from the copshop: There was an officer-involved shooting at the 3600 block of SW Barbur this morning. Denis Theriault is en route, I'll update when we have any more info.

Southwest Naito Parkway in the area is blocked in both directions because of the incident. The mayor and police chief have cancelled a 12:45 press conference they planned to host about the arrest of a 24-year-old suspect in the shooting death of 34-year-old Leonard James "LJ" Irving on 82nd Avenue last weekend.

There's not much around the 3600 block of SW Barbur except the Caro Amico Italian Restaurant. Here's a Google photo of the street:

UPDATE 12:26PM— Denis just talked with witness Jay Smith, who was driving north on Barbur at about 10:20am when and saw a man in black shorts with longish hair running from the overpass near the Naito/Barbur intersection, which is apparently a place where homeless people camp out. Smith says four or five police officers were chasing the man. "They had him cornered," says Smith, adding that one of the officers was carrying a "yellow, bazooka-like gun" which is perhaps one of the Portland Police's new taser shotguns (which police are using on a trial basis right now). Smith says he heard one gun shot, but other witnesses in the area say they heard three or four. An ambulance has been called and has already left the scene. The police have yet to hold an updated briefing on the shooting, but we'll update when they do.

UPDATE 12:58PM— You can let that breath out now: looks like the shooting was non-lethal. Denis just got out of the briefing with police on the shooting. Here's his rundown of what happened:

At 9:55 am, the police bureau received a call saying a man was bothering children who were attending a summer camp at Lair Hill Park. The man appeared to be intoxicated. While officers headed to the scene, another person called into dispatch and said the man had a knife.

Officers wound up firing at at least one round at the man, who was struck and taken to an area hospital. Police wouldn't say where he was hit or how many shots were fired, but the man's injuries appear to be non-life-threatening. Other than that, the police aren't elaborating on whether officers had a nonlethal weapon, like a taser gun.