An Oregon father and Antifa agitator was killed by police at a middle school in Eugene, Oregon this month after he pulled a handgun on two officers escorting him from the building.
The Eugene Police Department released video footage of the Jan. 11 incident at Cascade Middle School this week that shows Charles Landeros pull a gun and fired two rounds at the officers as he attempted to remove his daughter from the school.
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Amid the struggle, officer Steve Timm shot 30-year-old Landeros once in the head to end the ordeal. On Tuesday, Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow announced both officers, Timm and Aaron Johns, did the right thing, Officer.com reports.
“Upon making the arrest, their lives and the lives of others, were placed in danger by Mr. Landeros physically resisting that arrest, brandishing a firearm and firing it twice,” 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.”
“Officer Timm saved the life of Officer Johns, himself and perhaps many others given the number of rounds Charles Landeros had loaded in his weapon,” she said. “There is no clearer circumstance that the use of deadly force is justified than this.”
The district attorney said the gun Landeros pulled on officers utilized an expanded clip with 20 rounds, instead of the standard 18, not including the chambered round. Perlow said Landeros was strapped with a second magazine on a gun belt, and carried more ammo of a different caliber in his backpack, according to the news site.
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.”
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.
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At the October 2017 protest, Landeros and others rushed the stage to physically prevent school officials from speaking.
“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.”
Local authorities attempted to track down the “Charlie Landeros” Facebook account making the threats, but it was deactivated, KVAL reports.
Police contend Landeros was at the school because of a custody dispute regarding his daughter, and body camera footage shows the two officers ordering Landeros to leave. Landeros – who was wearing a “smash the patriarchy and chill” t-shirt, long coat, hat and backpack – argued with officers about their authority to remove him as his daughter approached the front entrance area and Landeros repeatedly yelled for her to “go, go, go.”
The officers grabbed Landeros as he pressed through the front doors and struggled with Johns. In the video, Landeros clearly pulled out a handgun and fired twice at Timms, who returned two rounds – one missing Landeros and another in his head.
Landeros died in front of his daughter and other witnesses, who confirmed Landeros fired first.
Regardless, the family is conducting an independent investigation.
“The investigation by the Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team is not complete and Charlie’s family will be retaining police practices experts to conduct an independent investigation to review the use of deadly force that resulted in the tragic death of their lived one,” the Civil Liberties Defense Center wrote in a prepared statement.
“We know this is a complex situation and that these situations often involve split-second decisions that are not fully appreciated simply by watching a video. We also recognize that context matters,” it continued.
The CLDC contends the issue is somehow complicated by Landeros’ minority status.
“We know that issues involving a person’s child are already tense and delicate situations with the potential to escalate. We also know that people of color are disproportionately the victims of police violence. We know that Charlie, as an activist against police brutality and a descendant of Mexican and Pilipino parents, was aware of this,” the statement read.
The Oregonian reports Landeros’ handgun was legally purchased by his sister-in-law and he possessed a valid concealed weapons permit. It’s not illegal in Oregon to carry a concealed firearm into a school, Perlow said.
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