PORTLAND, Ore. — A plywood sign painted with the word "Free" sat outside a Portland furniture warehouse Sunday. Inside were people opening up boxes, taking items and loading them into their vehicles, police said.
A note at the front of the building asked for volunteers to hand out items to people in the neighborhood who wanted it and needed it, officers added.
But there was one problem: the property owner wasn't the one who put up the sign, and never gave permission for anyone to be inside the building or for people to hand out items.
"I was like 'what's going on' and came down here," said Patrick Smyth, who lives in the area and called it 'craziness' in a typically quiet neighborhood.
People congregated inside the building on the corner of Northwest 25th Avenue and Vaughn Street as onlookers watched them walk out with large boxes.
Davina Cruz, who also lives nearby, said she watched someone pushing boxes out a second-story window. Then, she said, people loaded the boxes and mattresses onto trucks and into cars.
"There were so many people out in the street," Cruz said. "Oh my god, the boxes were huge. They were bigger than me."
Officers received reports of a burglary at the building and arrived to find someone had forced themselves in, and the crowd of people inside, they said. One witness told officers they thought it was a liquidation and the inventory was free.
Police investigated and arrested a 51-year-old man on Sunday who they said posted the note at the warehouse, but before he was set to appear in court on Monday, prosecutors dropped the charges. It's unclear what his motive was or his connection to the furniture warehouse. KGW reached out to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office to find out more about the charges that were dropped.
Authorities are working to determine how much property was taken and by who. They haven't said whether any of the people who took items will face repercussions.
Neighbors, like Cruz and Smyth who watched it all unfold, said the situation was confusing and many were concerned.
“A few people said, 'Oh, there’s someone in the back saying we can grab whatever' and directing them what they can and can’t take,'" Cruz said.
An aging sign on the building reads "Schilling & Vroman," though the former owner of that business told KGW it was sold back in 2019.