EUGENE, Ore. — Police have released officers’ body camera video from a fatal shooting at a Eugene middle school earlier this month.
Charles Frederick Landeros, 30, was shot and killed by police after pulling out a gun and firing twice at an officer following a custodial dispute at Cascade Middle School on Jan. 11.
Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow ruled that the officers were justified in their use of deadly force.
(Warning: The video is graphic and some may find it disturbing)
The school was placed into lockout for most of the day. All students, staff and officers were unharmed.
According to the district attorney's office, Landeros' daughter was enrolled at Cascade Middle School the week of the shooting without her mother's knowledge. The mother, who shares custody of their daughter, had exclusive control over where the girl attended school.
On the day of the shooting, the girl's mother went to the school to find out if her daughter was enrolled there. School personnel contacted Landeros, who also went to the school.
The struggle that led to the shooting began when Landeros refused school resources officers' demands to exit by the school. By coincidence, the daughter arrived in the hallway and Landeros yelled at her to "go" repeatedly, the district attorney's office said.
Police removed Landeros from the building and attempted an arrest for disorderly conduct and trespassing. During the struggle, police and witnesses said Landeros drew a gun first and fired shots, the district attorney's office said. One of the officers then fired two shots, which killed Landeros.
The magazine in Landeros' gun had a device that expanded its capacity to 20 rounds from 18, not including a chambered round, according to the DA's office. A second magazine was on a gun belt and a backpack Landeros was wearing had more ammunition, but of a different caliber.
Landeros' daughter witnessed the struggle and shooting, according to the district attorney's office.
Landeros was an Army veteran who served from June 2006 to June 2012 and was honorably discharged.
Landeros was a former student at the University of Oregon and an activist. In October 2017, Landeros was interviewed by KEZI during a student protest that interrupted what was supposed to be President Michael Schill’s annual address at the University of Oregon.
During the interview Landeros said, “Students are taking back their power, students are taking back their voice, we will no longer be regulated to when, where, and how we can speak."
The Daily Emerald reports that Landeros was a member of a group called Community Armed Self Defense. It 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 the Emerald reported is no longer publicly available on Facebook.
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 Daily Emerald reported.
“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.