Family mourns, disputes police
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It was a burden too heavy for men so young to bear.
Covered with white gladiolas, stargazer lilies and red roses, the casket contained the badly burned body of Fouad Kaady, 27, shot and killed by police on Thursday, Sept. 8.
Kaady, who graduated from Gresham High School in 1996, was “taken suddenly, unexpectedly and apparently unjustly,” said Father Alban West to the crowd of approximately 300 gathered for the man’s standing-room-only funeral service at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13.
The shooting
Police and Kaady’s family differ on the events that led up to the shooting.
Detective Jim Strovink, Clackamas County Sheriff’s spokesman, said deputies responded to a reported hit-and-run accident in the 13000 block of Southeast Bluff Road at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8.
The driver reportedly crashed into two vehicles before slamming into trees. Fire engulfed the car, but its driver, later identified as Kaady, managed to get out. Burned, bloody and naked, the man reportedly kicked another man who offered assistance. He reportedly jumped on a woman’s car, beat her sunroof and ran down Southeast 362nd Avenue near Bluff Road.
Sandy Police Officer Williams J. Bergin and Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy David. E. Willard repeatedly used Tasers on the man that Strovink described as “combative and totally unresponsive to the audible law enforcement commands to comply.”
Tasers deliver 50,000 volts of electricity through two barbs, but reportedly had no effect. Officers reported that Kaady was “out of control” and at one point was on top of the patrol vehicle.
Both officers shot at Kaady. He died of multiple gunshot wounds at the scene. Autopsy results won’t be available for at least two weeks.
Strovink wouldn’t say how many times Kaady was shot or release any details of the shooting.
However, he did say that since the shooting, the sheriff’s office has received additional reports of Kaady’s odd behavior. One witness saw Kaady in his boxer shorts outside Rick’s Custom Fencing in Gresham. Another witnesses reported Kaady “driving recklessly, cutting up a lawn” near Mt. Hood Community College.
Bergin and Willard are on paid leave pending a review of the shooting. Results will be forwarded to a Clackamas County grand jury.
Bergin, 24, is a lifelong Sandy resident hired by the Sandy Police Department in May. Prior to that, he worked for a year and a half as a police officer in Lincoln City.
Willard, 44, has a 23-year history in law enforcement. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office hired him in 1994. Previously, he worked for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Portland Public Schools police and the Willamina Police Department.
Devastated family disagrees
Following the funeral, Kaddy’s sister, Andrea Kaady, stands outside and watches the pallbearers bring her brother’s casket out of the church.
She stomps her foot out of anger, frustration and grief.
“We lost someone who didn’t even get to make his mark here,” she says, gently touching the edges of her brother’s framed picture in her arms.
On Thursday afternoon, her brother’s truck ran out of gas, Andrea said. Dressed in his trademark shorts and little else, he rummaged around in his truck for his cellular phone, but discovered he’d left it at home.
Kaady was driving his mother’s car from his parent’s Sandy duplex to his truck when his cigarette ignited the gasoline can in the vehicle, Andrea said.
As the car and its driver caught on fire, “he was trying to put himself out” when the vehicle collided with another car, Andrea said. Then Kaady crashed into a second vehicle. A head injury sustained during the second crash explains his erratic behavior, Andrea said, adding that he didn’t use drugs and was against the use of weapons.
His big sister, Vania Kaady, 29, said the shooting has sent shock waves through her Lebanese family and the close-knit Middle Eastern community. Some are calling the shooting ethnic cleansing. She had a hard time disagreeing.
“If he’d have been white, he wouldn’t have been shot,” she said.
Nadia Kahl, whose son, George, grew up with Kaady, said she is now afraid of the police.
“They shot him in cold blood,” she said. “They murdered him. … We won’t call the police anymore.”
Joe Teeny, a friend of the family, understands that police sometimes must use deadly force. After all, his sister is a Gresham police officer.
“But to shoot an unarmed and naked man?” he asked. “That’s being judge, jury and executioner. What was that officer thinking? What was he afraid of?”
Kaady’s friends still can’t believe he’s gone. Partly because he was so young and full of life. Partly because of the kind of person he was.
“He’s probably the most level-headed person around,” said Zaki Kahl, 36, of Boring. “He didn’t do meth, he didn’t do anything weird. He was a good kid.”
Friends described Kaady as big-hearted man with a great sense of humor. He was generous, honest, a great cook and a true host.
George Kahl, his eyes red from crying, said his childhood friend was a laid-back artist who never raised his voice. Kaady enjoyed painting with acrylics and loved music, especially Sting.
Last year when Kahl was painting his business, Kaady came and helped him — after spending all day painting his own house.
“That’s the kind of person he was,” Kahl said, a sob catching in his voice.