Police kill gunman who tried to hijack helicopter at Hillsboro Airport

Oregon Live.com ^ | July 3, 2017 | Everton Bailey Jr. and Olivia Dimmer

[KeyLargo]

Police kill gunman who tried to hijack helicopter at Hillsboro Airport

Updated on July 3, 2017

By Everton Bailey Jr. and Olivia Dimmer

As Christopher Neal watched planes fly in and out of the Hillsboro Airport with his wife and young son, a stranger in a gray hoodie caught their eye.

With his hood up and hands in his pockets, the man walked from across Northwest Cornell Road toward a barbed-wire fence leading to airport property, Neal said. The man briefly looked at the family, then back toward the fence. It was the beginning of a bizarre attempt to hijack a helicopter that left a gunman dead in a field across from the airport.

"For a moment, I thought to myself that it was a little warm for the big, thick, gray hoodie with the hood over him," said Neal, Public Safety Director for the Port of Portland, which owns and operates the airport. Neal said he was there on his day off because his son likes to watch planes.

The hooded man ran toward the fence, pulled a mask over his face, climbed the fence, stepped on the barbed wire at the top and went over.

Neal said he rushed his family back into their car and went to a nearby parking lot.

Within the hour, Hillsboro police said the man tried to steal a helicopter at gunpoint outside a flight school, hopped back over the fence at the sight of an officer and was fatally shot after a chase into a nearby field. 

Witness describes Hillsboro Airport shooting

[KeyLargo]

"Employees from Hillsboro Aero, armed with personal firearms, held the man at gunpoint, Hillsboro police said."

[Responsibility2nd]

A gray hoodie, huh?

Possibly a “teen”? An Amish teen?

[henkster]

A helicopter? Really? You gonna hijack a helipcopter? Where (TF) you think you gonna go in a helicopter? Cuba?

[Responsibility2nd]

Wonder if the gray hoodie guy even knew how to fly a helicopter?

Probably like the hoodrats who attempt to hijack a car - only to find it’s a stick shift.

No idea.....

[ColdOne]

I saw this on a twit feed the day it happened. Any name released yet? Name of Mosque he visited? His antifa name?

[gaijin]

There relevant question:

Is there a PRISON nearby, with an expansive yard surrounded by a high fence..?

And did the perp KNOW someone incarcerate there.

[wtd]

If you follow the link a second article provides the identity of the dead hijacker.

Hillsboro police on Wednesday identified the masked suspect who tried to hijack a helicopter at Hillsboro Airport as a 25-year-old man apparently from Washington state who had no connection to the flight school where he held up a pilot and passenger at gunpoint Monday.

It's still not clear why Holden Austin Gorka climbed over a barbed wire fence and tried to take the helicopter outside Hillsboro Aero Academy before takeoff, said Hillsboro police Lt. Henry Reimann. Investigators haven't been able to find a permanent address for Gorka, but online voter records lists him as being registered in Olympia, Washington.

Gorka has no apparent connection to the airport or the flight school, Reimann said. Investigators also haven't been able to determine if he has any history of mental illness or drug use.

[henkster]

Now it makes sense.

[MarMema]

Olympia is a place I once lived. But they have those greenies.

[KeyLargo]

AVIATION PING

[KeyLargo]

I drank 'Oly' when I was at Fort Lewis.

[Clay Moore]

He was going to try a helicopter after his failed attempt to hijack a bus to Cuba.

[\/\/ayne]

That’s funny, it always worked on Magnum PI....

[Road Warrior ‘04]

DB Cooper incarnate?

[MIchaelTArchangel]

No name and no report of the record for the hijacker?

[semaj]

Recently visited Philippines. Sudden jihadi syndrome?

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re your picture. Something ain’t quite right with that boy.

[DesertRhino]

LOL, He looks like he just lost the slope in his forehead two generations ago.

[SkyDancer]

A hoodie? In this heat? Dead give away.

[cyclotic]

I used the work for a guy who said he got caught stealing a police helicopter. He said he got 5-10 ft off the ground and managed to land. He earned lots of community service