Security Policy Reviewed -- Portland Guard Dies Saving Boy

PORTLAND - A security team hired by businessmen to help police protect downtown streets has begun to re-examine its policies after two of its members were shot, one fatally.

William Hall, 33, a married man with four children, was shot in the chest and killed Saturday in a heroic effort to protect a little boy, Richard Reiten, chairman of the Association for Portland Progress, said yesterday.

Hall was an armed, uniformed security guard.

Valencia Edwards, 20, an unarmed guide, was in stable condition in a hospital yesterday after bullet fragments were removed from her body.

Ernest Noland Lotches, 38, was in Justice Center Jail on charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder, robbery, unauthorized use of a vehicle and attempted kidnaping in connection with the downtown shooting spree, which sent dozens of shoppers diving for cover.

"We'll review our policies," said Reiten. "We'll review them right away. "Everyone agrees they were well-prepared and operating according to policy."

A bulletproof vest might have saved Hall's life, but he wasn't wearing one.

According to police, the shooting spree began about 2:37 p.m. Saturday when a man complained to a guide that Lotches had assualted him.

Edwards and Hall began to follow Lotches. Lotches pulled a 9mm handgun as he fled and began firing. He wounded Edwards. Hall fired, but missed.

Lotches tried to seize a car from Kim Keaten, 55, of Salem, and her grandson, Brandon Fekkers. The boy ran out of the car, and Hall was fatally shot as he broke from cover and placed the boy behind a pillar.

The boy wasn't injured.

Lotches commandeered a pickup truck, drove over a Willamette River bridge and finally was arrested at gunpoint by a policeman after he crashed the truck into a number of vehicles at a car dealership, police said.

Police said Lotches fired shots after crashing. One shot lodged in the seat of a patrol car, 6 inches from the officer.

Lotches has a long criminal record, including arrests for assault and attempted murder.

A police spokesman said his department may review how the guides and security guards operate downtown.