The gun that a young man reportedly aimed at two Claremont police officers before they shot and killed him was last registered to a deceased Ontario police chief, officials said Monday.
The connection to a high-ranking police officer, whose name had been redacted from an official report made public about the incident, is fueling further controversy about the death of Irvin Landrum Jr., 18, who was shot three times during a traffic stop in January. The police shooting has already prompted weekly demonstrations in front of City Hall and an FBI investigation into possible civil rights violations.
The district attorney's office concluded in October that the officers, Hany Hanna and Kent Jacks, were not "criminally culpable" in the shooting. Its findings were based on the report, which detailed a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigation into the incident.
One of the most disputed points in the case is whether Landrum was armed the night he was pulled over for speeding and told to step outside his car. The officers say that Landrum drew the weapon from his waistband and fired.
But tests conducted by the Sheriff's Department showed that the gun had not been fired and bore no fingerprints. Police have not explained how the officers saw and heard Landrum's weapon discharge. Claremont Police Chief Robert Moody has cited a study by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms showing that few guns recovered from crimes bear usable fingerprints.
Landrum's family and their supporters, meanwhile, say they have long suspected that the large .45-caliber revolver--a collector's item--would be traced back to someone in law enforcement.
They said the news about the gun underscores their suspicion that the gun was planted by the officers.
"It's what we suspected from the beginning," said Obee Landrum, the victim's uncle. "I ask: Is it more likely for a gun owned by a police chief to find its way to other police--or can we assume that his widow just sold it to someone on the street?"
Moody, however, said there is absolutely no connection between the gun and his department. Neither officer worked in Ontario, he said, and it is unclear who has owned the weapon since Ontario Police Chief Wayne Simmons, a well-known gun collector, died 11 years ago.
