Two police officers were "legally justified" in the deadly shooting of a parent at an Oregon middle school this month, officials said Thursday, as video of the fatal encounter was released.When police tell you to leave, leave. Don't pull your gun. I'm sad for his daughter.
The Lane County District Attorney's Office said the incident occurred as Eugene police officers Aaron Johns and Steve Timm were trying to arrest 30-year-old Charles Landeros after a custody argument at Cascade Middle School.
Landeros, seen wearing a "smash the patriarchy" shirt in video released by police, refused to leave the premises when asked by school resource officers.
A struggle later erupted when the officers moved Landeros outside. Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow said, prior to the shooting, Landeros pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officers, KPTV reported.
As the officers tried to wrestle the gun away, Landeros fired two shots. Timm then returned fire, squeezing off a single shot that struck Landeros in the head and killed him, according to officials.
Officials said Landeros was a concealed handgun license holder, and the gun had been legally purchased by his sister-in-law in December. Landeros' daughter and two other people witnessed the shooting, which took place with other students nearby, Perlow said.
“It is unknown why Charles Landeros chose to use deadly force in this circumstance, but he clearly had no regard for the lives of the police officers or the students or staff present, including his child,” the prosecutor said in a statement to the Oregonian.
From another article: DA: Police justified in killing Antifa agitator father who pulled gun on officers at school
Landeros, a war veteran and former student leader at the University of Oregon, has a documented history of anti-police, anti-authority “activism” that centers on arming LGBTQ folks and minorities with firearms.
UO’s student news site, the Daily Emerald, reports:
Landeros, who used they/them/theirs pronouns, led a student protest in October 2017 that disrupted UO President Michael Schill’s state of the university address. Landeros and other protestors characterized Schill as a CEO and said that the purpose of the protest was to “empower marginalized students on campus.”At the October 2017 protest, Landeros and others rushed the stage to physically prevent school officials from speaking.
Landeros was a member of Community Armed Self Defense, a group that was created as a “new liberatory and inclusive space for all oppressed peoples to learn about armed self-defense,” according to the group’s Facebook page, which is no longer publicly available on Facebook as of 4 p.m. Saturday.
Community Armed Self Defense’s Facebook page said that they could not count on the police to protect marginalized people, and that firearms help marginalized groups protect themselves.
“The police are not here to protect us. They are more likely to harm us themselves than they are to ‘serve or protect’ us,” the group wrote on their Facebook page description.
“A group of about 45 protesters identifying as ‘the UO Student Collective’ rushed the stage shortly after Interim Vice President of Student Life Kevin Marbury took the podium to introduce Schill. Just a few minutes later administration vacated the ballroom, abandoning efforts to make the formal address,” according to The Daily Emerald.
There’s also evidence Landeros posted “Death to all pigs” and “Time to start killing pigs” in response to social media posts about officers who died in the line of duty, as well as an FBI investigation into his online activities last year.
“In 2018, the FBI received information on a tip line that Charles Landeros was posting violent anti-government messages on social media,” according to the DA. “The information was referred to the local FBI office, who concluded there was insufficient information to substantiate that a crime had been committed.”
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