August 4, 1999  City of Claremont
Landrum Incident --- Fact Sheet

Mr. Landrum was stopped for speeding on Base Line Road on January 7, 1999 a little after 1:00 in the morning. A Claremont police officer was travelling westbound, Landrum was traveling eastbound. The officer turned on radar because Landrum appeared to be speeding. Mr. Landrum was clocked at 63 mph. The speed limit on Base Line Road is 45 mph.

The officer was not able to observe the gender or race of the driver of the vehicle; it was night time, the officer and Mr. Landrum were travelling in opposite directions and Mr.Landrum was travelling almost 20 miles over the speed limit. The officer turned his vehicle around, stopped Landrum and approached his car. Landrum had no driver's license or registration but did produce a proof of insurance certificate.

Mr. Landrum was on probation for carrying a concealed weapon. The officer asked Landrum if he was carrying a gun. Landrum responded that he was not carrying a gun.  Landrum offered to let the officer search his car. Mr. Landrum's girlfriend has given a statement to Sheriff's investigators confirming that Mr. Landrum often carried a gun in his car.

The officer, using his discretion, wrote a citation for no driver's license and no registration but only warned and did not cite Mr. Landrum for speeding.

The officer called for a backup so he could search Mr. Landrum's car as was offered.  Calling for a back up on a vehicle search is standard procedure. When the backup unit arrived, the officer started to pat down Mr. Landrum for weapons, in accordance with standard procedure. Mr. Landrum stepped back, drew a revolver from his waist band, pointed the weapon at the officers and yelled, "You're both dead." The officers immediately began to retreat, pulling their guns and firing in fear of their lives.

As is Claremont's standard practice, immediately following the incident, the Sheriff's Department was called in to investigate the shooting. Having the Sheriffs Department investigate provides an independent review.
 

Fact Sheet
Landrum Incident

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At the Police Department's request, the Sheriffs Department submitted its report to the District Attorney's office for review. The FBI also investigated the incident as a result of the Landrum family filing a case with the United States Department of Justice. The City is cooperating with the Federal agencies, and in fact welcomes their review.

The Landrum Family has raised a concern that there were no discernable finger prints found on Mr. Landrum's weapon. This is not unusual. In fact, a study by finger print experts reports that fingerprints are found on guns less than 10% of the time. Two fingerprint specialists for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms recently published an article detailing their exhaustive study of why fingerprints are not found on firearms. Over a two and one half year period, they examined 1,000 firearms and found fingerprints on only 93 of them, less than 10%.

Both officers are cooperating with the investigations. The back up officer did not initially give a statement to the Sheriffs Investigators on the advice of his attorney. He has since given a statement as part of the internal investigation. The statement has been turned over to the District Attorney's office for review.

Both officers have returned to work after taking some administrative leave to spend time with their wives and children and prepare for the demands their jobs put on them daily.  They did what they are trained to do, defend themselves. They have spent time with professionals who have helped them work through the incident and have found there is no reason for either officer to be taken off work.

As expressed by Mayor Rosenthal and council members on several occasions, this is a difficult time for all the individuals and their families who are involved.

We continue to believe that the officers of the Claremont Police Department have acted and continue to act in a professional manner and that this will be supported when all the investigations are formally concluded.

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Rev: 8-4-99