PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
A 17-year-old boy is out of the hospital after an injury suffered during a foot chase in which Portland police officers opened fire.
Witnesses told FOX 12 at least three people were in a car that was pulled over by officers near the intersection of Southeast 153rd Avenue and Division Street on Tuesday afternoon.
During the traffic stop, police ordered the teen to lift his shirt to show he didn't have a weapon, according to witnesses. A Portland police spokesman said the teen took off running, and sometime during a foot pursuit officers fired a bean bag round and a gunshot at the suspect as he kept running.
"It was going nice and smooth, everything was going fine," said Paul James, who watched the traffic stop. "I didn't think anything was going to happen. All of the sudden, I heard screaming, 'Stop, stop.' Two shots went off."
Officers said the teen was wounded during the chase, but it wasn't immediately clear whether he was hit by bean bags or bullets. Police, who described the teen's injury as "non-life-threatening," found him during a search of the neighborhood.
In addition, officers found two guns that may have been dropped by the suspect during the foot chase, police said.
At least two other people - including a man and woman - were taken into custody at the site of the traffic stop.
No Portland police officers were injured in the confrontation.
The traffic stop stemmed from a Gang Enforcement Team investigation at a home in Portland where police were conducting surveillance. At some point, officers saw an armed man get into the car and drive away. Police followed the man to the Division Street and 153rd Avenue intersection where the car was stopped.
James said a man and woman left the car and cooperated with police. They were released from custody, police said.
"The third guy they started backing out. They had guns drawn and everything. They said to raise his waistband, and he wouldn't do it and he took off running," said James. "And that's when the cops shot at him."
Investigators are still trying to determine what prompted the officers to fire their weapons and whether the suspect's behavior warranted the firing of lethal rounds.
SLIDESHOW: Officer-involved shooting on Division Street
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation.) All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy: Don Nutt
Photo courtesy: Don Nutt
