A Portland-based handyman who was hospitalized after being savagely beaten by an armed Antifa mob last week says he’s done working in the violence-prone northwest city.

Joseph Hall, 53, told The Oregonian he happened to venture into a “Justice for Patrick Kimmons” march, which is held weekly to protest the Portland police shooting death of the 27-year-old black man — who had already shot and wounded two other men — in 2018, as firearm-toting demonstrators were walking down a street in a North Portland neighborhood.

Hall said he was headed home after a repair job at an apartment complex not far away when he swerved his red Ford pickup onto a street after he said someone on a moped cut him off. He then noted that the moped began to follow him and that the man driving it was holding a handheld radio and shouting at him to stop.

As he reached an intersection, Hall said another vehicle moved to block his forward path, “and all of a sudden I have three or four people around me” carrying what he believed were AR and AK-style rifles.

At that, Hall said he retrieved a non-lethal handgun from his vehicle that shoots hard pellets in an effort to get the people who had set upon him to move, adding he had not realized that he had driven into the middle of a march.

Hall told the local paper that at one point he heard a woman yelling on a megaphone for the crowd to let him go but he said demonstrators continued to block his path and started to call him a “Nazi.”

“They’re screaming and yelling at me, claiming I was out there trying to run people over. That’s when I discovered a march was going on,” he told The Oregonian. ”I was trapped. A vehicle in front of me trapped me in. I couldn’t go forward or around.”

According to video posted online, Hall is seen confronting several people from the cab of his truck, exchanging words with them for several moments as some in the crowd threaten him. He is seen holding his weapon — which he tells demonstrators is non-lethal — as a man who is standing in the street points a rifle at him.

Warning: Strong language

Antifa death squads march through residential streets in Portland brandishing rifles. They point them at a motorist, causing him to draw on them in return. He's beaten to the ground and his gun is stolen. He offers that he's a disabled Marine. pic.twitter.com/L0nTTKuE7t

— Alan Bings (@AlanBings) May 6, 2021

At one point, Hall yells repeatedly, “You have about five seconds to lower that weapon,” provoking similar responses from demonstrators, with one telling him his vehicle is a more potent weapon.

Moments later, Hall gets back in his truck and begins to pull away, but stops suddenly after it appears as though someone, or something, had struck his vehicle.

Hall then stepped out to confront the crowd, which is when someone reportedly took the keys out of his pickup. As they exchanged words, he told The Oregonian, several people were hostile and some pointed rifles and handguns at him.

In the first video, Hall appears to raise a firearm that The Oregonian reported was a concealed .38 handgun he drew before he is jumped from behind by a demonstrator and pummeled by several others.

In another video, Hall is seen being pinned to the ground asking for an ambulance while demonstrators curse and scream at him.

After PDX Antifa beat up a driver he tells them he needs an ambulance.
Antifa refuses to get help.
At a certain point he grabs at his heart and tells them again he needs an ambulance.
He even tells them he's a diabetic.

Antifa refuses again. Animals!#antifa #blacklivesmatter https://t.co/zMy5aOsN0A pic.twitter.com/hX1xkng5aB

— Radstar (@x0OO0bbHxo0xyxY) May 8, 2021

“I’m trained in the military to walk towards the threat and fight your way through the threat,” Hall, who says he’s a former Marine, told the paper, adding he has a concealed carry permit.

“By this time I’ve got five people surrounding my vehicle, AR-15s, AK-47s. I pulled my .38 out of my right pocket and pointed it at the ground and told them if a weapon points at me again, I will shoot to eliminate the threat,” he told a local TV news crew from his hospital bed.

Antifa owns the streets of Portland. The consequence for standing up for yourself is a trip to the hospital, a large medical bill, and widespread mockery on social media. pic.twitter.com/vbmyoucPZ5

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 8, 2021

After he was tackled to the ground, Hall said the pistol flew out of his hands. In a video, someone is heard yelling, “Grab his gun!”

Hall, who maintains his life was being threatened, told the local TV news outlet he suffered a partially collapsed lung, head and spinal injuries, and a broken collarbone.

“I’m done, I’m done working in Portland. I’m shutting my business down and I’m probably not going to be coming back,” he added.

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Jon Dougherty

Staff Writer
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.

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