Where golfers are usually the center of attention, a Portland Police armored SERT vehicle participated in the search of the southern half of the Eastmoreland Golf Course for the armed suspect, Mr. Loony Toon, as he evidently prefers to be called (and is shown at right). (Photo at left by David F. Ashton)

What started with the erratic driving of a Dodge Journey Crossroad SUV on Highway 224, leading to a traffic stop by a Milwaukie police officer in the wee hours of Friday, June 20th, turned into a high-speed pursuit up to Sellwood by several Milwaukie squad cars onto a dead end at S.E. 26th Place – followed by an enormous manhunt on the Eastmoreland Golf Course links, and later in the surrounding neighborhood.

To start the story at the beginning: At 2:42 a.m. early that Friday morning, a Milwaukie patrol officer saw the Dodge weaving between the westbound lanes of S.E. Highway 224 (Milwaukie Expressway) in Milwaukie and signaled for the driver to stop. At the S. E. Oak Street light, the driver turned right and stopped.

After identifying the driver – 42-year-old Loony John Franklin Toon – the MPD officer learned that he had an active felony warrant, and radioed for police backup. Due to the time of night, the seriousness of the warrant offense, and the potential for escape, the officer was parked in front of the stopped vehicle, and he wedged a spike strip under its rear tires. An arriving “cover” officer positioned a patrol vehicle behind the stopped car to limit escape options.

But instead of getting out of SUV as ordered, Mr. Toon slammed his vehicle into reverse and crashed into the police cruiser hard enough to push it back and make a bit of room for him to pull out and around the front squad car. As Toon made his escape, his Dodge ran over the spike strips that punctured his rear tires.

From there, Toon headed west on the Milwaukie Freeway at 80 mph – with officers in pursuit – using their radios to ask for help from Portland Police. Toon continued to the end of Highway 224 and turned northbound on two-lane S.E. 17th Avenue.

“During the chase, the driver displayed a pistol out the window, and fired multiple shots in the direction of the trailing Milwaukie Police officers,” MPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Mark Inman later told reporters.

In Sellwood, Toon turned east on S.E. Tacoma, crossed the Tacoma Street Viaduct, and turned north onto a narrow, dead-end road. Toon’s Dodge, rear tire shredded and running on its metal rim, was forced to stop in the industrial park where southbound S.E. 26th place dead-ends, just north of the Springwater Corridor Trail.

By the time the Milwaukie officers caught up, and carefully approached, Toon had already fled – leaving behind a female passenger, who stayed and cooperated with the investigation. She told officers that she last saw Toon running north, into the southern end of the Eastmoreland Golf Course.

Because their rails parallel the west side of the golf course, both TriMet MAX Light Rail and Union Pacific Railroad trains were stopped, to allow the intense and lengthy search that followed.

Portland Police officers set dragnet

By 7:22 a.m., a total of 46 Central Precinct District squad cars, including five with police dog teams, and with “Air 1” flying overhead, and arriving members of the Portland SERT Team and the Crisis Negotiation Team – were concentrating on a perimeter bounded by S.E. Tacoma Street and 26th Place to the south, and extending north through Eastmoreland Golf Course to Bybee Boulevard and east to S.E. 27th Avenue and Crystal Springs Boulevard.

Eastmoreland residents were notified of the manhunt through the Public Alerts system, and were asked to stay inside and call 9-1-1 if they saw anyone suspicious in their yards.

After the main search ended unsuccessfully, officers were directed to stand down at 8:28 a.m. But a neighbor’s call to the 9-1-1 at 8:52 a.m., reporting suspicious activities by a man in the area, led six PPB officers to the area of S.E. Crystal Springs Boulevard and 30th Avenue. After they searched many yards, extending outward from that intersection, Toon was nowhere to be found.

“It’s quite likely that Toon called a buddy and asked to be picked up and driven out of the area; that happens a lot these days,” mused an officer as he prepared to return to patrolling his district.

“During the chase no police officers were injured, no police vehicles were struck by bullets, and no officers discharged their firearms,” Milwaukie Police Sgt. Mark Inman said at a press conference later that morning.

As for his peculiar name – Loony John Franklin Toon? We suspect his parents only gave him those two middle names, and that considerably later he picked out those first and last names for himself. But that’s apparently the name on his driver’s license.

After three days – he’s caught!

As this issue of THE BEE was going to press, Mr. Toon was arrested on Monday, June 23, by US Marshals, which included detached local Law Enforcement members, in the 41000 block of S.E. Vista Loop in the community of Sandy, east of Gresham, ending the three-day hunt for him.

Mr. Toon will be lodged at the Clackamas County Jail on charges of Attempt Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Possession of Weapons by Certain Felons, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Police Officer, Failure to Perform the Duties of Driver, Property Damage, Reckless Endangering another Person, and Criminal Mischief in the First Degree – in addition to an Oregon State Parole Board warrant and an arrest warrant obtained by the Milwaukie Police for the current charges, some of which carry multiple counts.

Now, if we manage to keep him in jail until his trial, we should be able to say “Th-th-that’s all, folks” to this particular gun-slinging felonious Loony Toon.