QuickTake:
The man who shot Jaime Javier Lagarda-Govea did so after seeing him draw a firearm from his waistband, Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa said. Parosa said the self-defense determination was made after reviewing video and interviewing witnesses.
The man who shot and killed a 21-year-old Springfield man in the parking lot of a Walmart in Eugene did so in self-defense, Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa said in a statement Thursday, Nov. 20.
Jaime Javier Lagarda-Govea died Sept. 5 after being shot in the parking lot in the 4500 block of West 11th Avenue. Police said the shooter remained on the scene and cooperated with investigators.
Parosa identified the shooter as Elijah Lais. His place of residence was not available.
The finding of self-defense came after “interviewing unrelated eyewitnesses, employees of Walmart, reviewing of video, forensic evidence, scene evidence and statements of those involved,” according to Parosa’s statement.
Lais and his son were inside Walmart when they were “accosted by a group of three young men, including Mr. Lagarda-Govea,” according to the statement.
The district attorney’s statement says that when Lais realized he and his stepson were being pursued outside the store, he told his stepson to run ahead to their vehicle, a truck.
As Lagarda-Govea ran by, Lais pushed him to the ground and began to run to the driver’s side of the truck.
“Mr. Lagarda-Govea got up and continued to pursue Mr. Lais, and Mr. Lais saw Mr. Lagarda-Govea drawing a firearm, which police later determined to be loaded, from Mr. Lagarda-Govea’s waistband. Mr. Lais opened his driver’s door, giving him access to his own firearm, which he retrieved and used to shoot the fast-approaching Lagarda-Govea,” according to the district attorney’s statement.
Lais’ stepson told investigators, “Lais would ultimately shoot Mr. Lagarda-Govea when as close as an arm’s length apart” from Lais, according to the district attorney’s findings.
The district attorney’s statement also notes an encounter three days earlier, at the Lane County Courthouse, where two men in a black SUV approached Lais and his stepson. A man exited the SUV and “verbally accosted them, stating something like, ‘I’m gonna blow your head off.’”
On the day of the shooting, one of the men in the black SUV, along with Lagarda-Govea, accosted Lais and his stepson at Walmart, according to the district attorney’s findings.
The district attorney’s statement doesn’t say what the dispute involved. While Lais stayed at the scene, the other two men said to accost Lais and his stepson fled but were later identified, according to the district attorney’s office.
Lagarda-Govea, who was known as Jimmy, once worked at the Walmart in Eugene where he was killed, his cousin, Diego Fierro, said in a September interview.
“I am so torn, my cousin’s life was taken from him so young,” Fierro said in September.
