Patrick Resing Students marched to Claremont’s City Hall on Tuesday night to make their views concerning the Landrum shooting heard at the City Council meeting.

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College students and Claremont residents came together at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the city’s handling of the Irvin Landrum, Jr. case. Both the Irvin Landrum Committee for Justice, bolstered by a large number of students and residents, and Officer Kent Jacks–who also had supporters at the meeting–made statements before the council. There has been increased confrontation and allegations between the two sides of late and that trend continued at the meeting.

This confrontational tone was aggravated by the recent release of Irvin’s uncle Obee Landrum’s criminal record by City Manager Glen Suthard. The city manager’s reasoning was that Landrum had now become a public figure due to his involvement in the case. Thus the release of his criminal record was of interest to the public. This action by the city manager was the subject of many of the speeches given at the City Council Meeting.

Obee Landrum, speaking first, said he "would not dignify the comments made about [him] in the last few weeks."

Professor and Claremont resident Jerry Irish voiced his opinion more strongly, saying to the assembled council members, "that if [they] condoned the city manager’s actions, then [they] betrayed the principles that we elected you on."

The City Council has previously said that the City Manager acted of his own volition in releasing Landrum’s record, but that also he was well within his right to do so, as it was already a matter of public record.

City Council Member Paul Held said, "I’m personally satisfied. I think the council should take no further action...I think we need to move on."

Obee Landrum called the recently released District Attorney’s report on the shooting "plagiarism" of earlier reviews by the Claremont Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, and stated his desire for there to be an independent investigation.

Claremont resident Ronald Clerk agreed, saying, "God Bless Claremont, God loves Claremont...and if the investigation shows that Irvin was wrong, then he was wrong. I just want an independent investigation to clear it up."

The demand for an independent investigation comes on the heels of the release of the District Attorney’s report of the shooting. The report cleared the two CPD officers of any wrongdoing in the events surrounding Irvin Landrum’s death. The DA did not conduct any original investigation in their report, but relied on the information previously collected by the CPD and the LA County Sheriff’s Office. Critics have called for an examination of the perceived discrepancies in the two officers’ testimonies and the physical evidence of the case.

"We are relying on the testimonies of two people who have something to lose if they are found guilty of murder," said Tiombe Jones ‘02, a speaker at the City Council Meeting.

Many residents felt that justice already has been done. Claremont resident Nancy Spiker responded that "the officers were doing their sworn duty to serve and protect." She went further and decried the behavior of the Landrum Committee for Justice towards her group which is in support of the CPD. Susan Edwards is a participant in this group, which meets at the same time in the same place–in front of City Hall on Wednesdays–as the Landrum Committee. She complained that "these people heckle, harass, and try to humiliate [us]." Both speakers stressed that they will continue to exercise their first amendment rights at the Wednesday gatherings.

Gary Jenkins, President of the Claremont Police Management Association, concluded that "the only evidence of racism that we have seen is from the Landrum family."

For much of the evening, the first amendment was at the heart of comments from speakers on both sides of the issue, prompting council member Algird Leiga to comment "Although it is [their right] to protest, I wonder sometimes how valuable that right is."

He then turned his attention upon the students gathered. "I am surprised that the students have such a hard time grasping the facts and are so easily swayed [by a few individuals]."

The large student turnout at the meeting was the result of widespread interest in the case and a rally beforehand that was organized by Pomona student Mike Flynn ‘02. Flynn said, "the way we’re going to get an independent investigation is by making our voices heard in the community, and getting 120 students to crash City Hall is a good start."