UPDATE: Father apologizes, describes struggles of son shot by Springfield police

This story has been updated.

The man shot and killed by a Springfield police officer has been identified as Daniel A. Kahn, the Lane County district attorney said.

Springfield police said Kahn stabbed two Springfield police officers on Wednesday, July 30, after officers responded to a report of a disorderly person at a business near Gateway Street and Beltline Road.

Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa released Kahn’s name Friday.

In an article published by The Oregonian on Friday, a person identified as Kahn’s father said Kahn was homeless and struggling with mental illness. Kahn was born and raised in Houston, according to Mort Kahn.

“Countless times over the last 25 years, members of our family guided and assisted Daniel to check himself into various mental hospitals where he could be assessed and appropriately medicated and guided by trained mental health experts,” Morton Kahn wrote in a message to The Oregonian, the newspaper reported.

Lookout Eugene-Springfield independently obtained the statement from Morton Kahn in which he portrays in detail the struggles of his son and his inability to find steady treatment. Kahn said his son died at age 38.

Morton Kahn said he believed his son traveled from Texas to Oregon to gain easier access to mental health and social services.

“Countless times over the last 25 years members of our family guided and assisted Daniel to check himself into various mental hospitals where he could be assessed and appropriately medicated and guided by trained mental health experts. The issue is, at least for our family’s observation, is that all of these facilities that actually helped Daniel were on a completely voluntary basis,” Kahn said in the statement.

A cousin of Daniel Kahn’s who provided the statement to Lookout Eugene-Springfield said in a text message that Morton Kahn spoke for the whole family.

Morton Kahn wrote, “There appeared to be no mechanism in place that allowed the state government here in Texas or anywhere else that Daniel visited to forcibly hold him for the help he needed.”

The result, he said, was that after Daniel spent some time taking prescribed medication and undergoing treatment, he “would feel like he was able to jet off somewhere,” forgoing treatment. Daniel then reverted back to “all of his uncontrolled mental conditions” and living unhoused, Kahn wrote.

Potential for violence

“In the end, Daniel became a potentially very violent person,” Morton Kahn wrote, describing how his son landed in jail for a year.

The description closely matches court records from Harris County in Texas, which show that Daniel Kahn pleaded guilty in March 2023 to aggravated assault. The court document states that Kahn caused “serious bodily injury … by striking the Complainant with his hand.”

In his statement, Morton Kahn said jail authorities could not deal with his son.

“What is amazing is that although he was in jail for hurting somebody very badly, the system and the courts let him out early because they could not handle Daniel‘s mental health or medical needs. Through secondhand information I became aware that even the court system did not know how to deal with Daniel‘s conditions while in jail,” Kahn said.

Kahn wrote that what happened in Springfield was “in my mind inevitable,” and he called for wider acceptance of involuntary treatment.

“Our national and statewide mental health facilities and processes that mostly only involve a person’s voluntary decision to seek mental health help is what caused this horrible event for all involved,” Kahn wrote.

“States and the federal government need to find a way to diagnose people with serious mental health conditions, and involuntarily hold them in order to give them the assistance that is required for their illnesses AND to protect the public.”

Apologies

Kahn began his letter by apologizing to the wounded police officers.

The two wounded officers have been released from the hospital. They have not yet been identified. The officer who shot Kahn also has not been identified, but is on administrative leave, as required by countywide protocol for deadly force incidents involving law enforcement agencies.

“Thank you for putting yourself out there to protect all of us. You are truly heroes!” Kahn wrote.

Kahn also wrote about the officer who shot his son, apologizing that “you were put in the position to end my son’s life.

“My sincere hope is that you mend and get the appropriate counseling you need to move on and return to work safeguarding the citizens in Springfield, Oregon. You likely saved an innocent life sometime into the future. I send you a warm forgiving embrace with tears in my eyes and ask that you please heal quickly,” Kahn wrote.