A career criminal with a lengthy record of burglaries and thefts who broke into a Portland countertop fabrication business and was shot three times by the owner while attempting to flee is now seeking $10 million in a civil lawsuit, arguing the property owner used excessive force against him.
The incident took place on March 6, 2023, around 5:30 a.m.
The criminal, 43-year-old Kenneth Voyles, who was homeless and had methamphetamine in his system, entered Touchstone Granite & Marble Inc. by pulling plywood off a damaged garage door and cutting through metal bars.
Voyles later claimed he was looking for food and to get out of the cold but also admitted he intended to rob the place.
Inside the building, he ran into the 70-year-old owner, James Grant, an Army veteran with a concealed weapons permit who had been living in a back room of the business.
Grant, who was not wearing his hearing aids, confronted Voyles, threw a cup of urine and tiles at him, and ordered him to leave.
“I go, ‘Stop!’ Like, ‘Please stop!’” Voyles claimed in court, according to a report from the Post Millennial. “He’s assaulting me. He was pretty angry.”
Hellbound and Down 