Zac Champommier: Unarmed Teen Killed By Police

It has been seven months since Zac Champommier was shot and killed by plain clothes police. His mother still hasn’t received an official report on the events of that fateful night, nor has she been told the name of the person who pulled the trigger. In a case where there seems to be a lot of finger pointing and little real accountability, another promising young man is gone and another mother is in mourning, asking why.

Zac Champommier was 18, an honor student and a self-proclaimed “band geek." He had recently graduated high school and was preparing to enter college in a few months. On the night of June 24, he went to meet a new friend and see a movie. They were to meet in a Studio City parking lot, behind a Chipotle. But when Zac showed up, he saw his friend being rushed by a group of seemingly-aggressive men.

Some have surmised Zac became scared and attempted to leave the lot; others say he drove toward the group as if to intervene. But in the end, one man would be hit by Zac’s car and Zac would be shot dead.

What Zac didn’t know at the time was the group of men confronting his friend, Douglas Ryan Oeters, were all law enforcement. The officers, including members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), DEA and LA County Sheriff’s Department had just executed a search warrant and were hanging out in the parking lot “debriefing." According to the officers, they saw Oeters walking around the lot, looking in cars, and believed he was casing them for theft. Oeters contends he did look in a white car because he thought Zac had beat him to the lot.

With eerie similarities to the DJ Henry case, officers claim that when Zac did arrive he drove straight at them, intentionally and maliciously hitting one deputy with his car. Oeters says that’s not not how it happened at all. People who knew Zac similarly state that it would have been way outside of his character to be confrontational. He would have been far more likely to leave and call 911. Oeters states, “somehow an agent got in the way between him (Zac) and the exit … it did not appear as if he was there to hurt anyone. He was not driving very fast.”

Despite this account and the unlikelihood that Zac would’ve been able to gain any significant speed in the parking lot, at least one report from the Sherriff’s Department claims Zac had sped toward the group, intentionally striking the officer sending him up into the air, on to the hood and then the ground. Both the deputy who was hit and one DEA agent opened fire.

Oeters states law enforcement were slow to identify themselves. None were in uniform and there were no marked cars in the lot. From Zac’s perspective, there was no reason to believe the group was made up of police and federal agents. By all accounts (even Sherriff’s Department officials’), no one flashed a badge at Zac — he simply saw an armed man standing in the path of his exit.

As if the questions surrounding Zac’s death weren’t puzzling enough, the treatment of his case from all agencies involved has been less than forthcoming.

Currently, the investigation is sitting in front of the LA District Attorney’s Office Justice System Integrity Division, having been investigated by the LA County Sheriff’s Department -- yes, the same department whose deputy fired shots at the scene. Head Deputy Sergio Gonzales is reviewing the case for criminal violations on the part of the law enforcement officers involved. Sheriff Lee Baca said early on that there was no indication that any of the officers acted improperly, hardly an unbiased foundation for the investigation to arise from.

Carol Champommier is a mother in mourning and a mother on a mission. She has repeatedly been given the run around from all three agencies involved. The Sherriff’s Department refuses to share their report with her; the DEA doesn’t return her attempts to contact them; and Chief Beck of the LAPD vowed to her they would investigate (in August) and never contacted her again. Show support for her cause and demand transparency in the case -- and answers -- by signing the petition below.

Photo Credit: Champommier family