A Jackson County grand jury ruled Thursday that Ashland Police Officer Alex Vela was legally justified in shooting 36-year-old Phillip Battaglia, who authorities say approached the officer with a knife and shouted threats during a pre-dawn confrontation on A Street. The grand jury also indicted Battaglia on two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, a criminal mischief charge and two counts of menacing.
The shooting happened around 2 a.m. on Oct. 26, when Vela and fellow Ashland officer Lorenzo Elder responded to a business alarm in the city's Railroad District, according to RV Times. When officers arrived, they reportedly saw Battaglia holding a knife in his right hand. He allegedly shouted, “I'm going to kill you!” at the officers and ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon before advancing toward Vela, who fired twice, striking Battaglia in the leg and stopping his advance, according to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.
Even after being shot and falling to the ground, Battaglia reportedly swung the knife toward Officer Elder and said, “I almost had you.” Ashland officers then provided medical aid at the scene until Ashland firefighters arrived, per the sheriff's office account. Vela testified that he believed he would be stabbed if he did not fire, the sheriff's office said.
Suspect Allegedly Said He Wanted Police to Kill Him
Battaglia later told investigators he was on a “suicide mission” and had broken storefront windows at multiple businesses in the area specifically to trigger an alarm and force police to respond, the sheriff's office said. The damage to those businesses is what set off the alarm Vela and Elder were initially sent to investigate, authorities said. Battaglia reportedly told investigators he intended to provoke officers into shooting and killing him.
The grand jury's review included testimony from witnesses, body-camera footage from both officers and surveillance video from a nearby business, according to KDRV. The seven-member panel, selected at random from the community by the Jackson County Circuit Court, determined that Vela acted lawfully and was fully justified in using deadly physical force, the sheriff's office said.
Charges and Custody Status
Battaglia remained hospitalized following the shooting, RV Times reported. Once he is released, he is expected to be taken to the Jackson County Jail and held on $150,000 bail, the station's report indicates. The grand jury's indictment covers two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, criminal mischief and two counts of menacing, per the same account.
The Jackson County District Attorney's Office presents all officer-involved shootings in the county to a grand jury to determine whether deadly force was justified under Oregon law, a process tied to the state's criminal statutes governing use of force. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office investigated the shooting, with assistance from Oregon State Police and the Medford Police Department, the sheriff's office said in its statement.
Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
