In the early morning hours of January 16, 1992, the life of 12-year-old Nathan McMurry Thomas, a White male, was tragically cut short in his Portland, Oregon home. The night began with police investigating a burglary in the neighborhood. A police dog tracked the suspect to the Thomas family's residence, where a window had been forced open.
Officers alerted the family, and Nathan's mother discovered the intruder, Bryan Templin French, 20, in her son's bed, holding a knife to the boy's
throat. As his parents and younger brother took refuge in a nearby room, a tense standoff unfolded. The intruder moved with Nathan to the top of the stairs, keeping the boy as a shield. Believing French was about to harm Nathan, three police officers who had entered the house made a split-second decision to act.
In the ensuing chaos, the officers opened fire. Both Nathan and his captor were struck by the officers' bullets. French was killed at the scene, having been hit by 14 shots. Nathan sustained two gunshot wounds to the head and was rushed to a hospital, where he died a few hours later. The tragic event was deemed a result of a police rescue attempt gone horribly wrong. An investigation followed, and a grand jury was tasked with reviewing the officers' actions. The intruder, Bryan Templin French, was the sole suspect, and no other arrests were made in connection with the incident. A suicide note was later found in French's apartment.
