March 10, 2023 11:30 a.m. 

On Wednesday a Douglas County Grand Jury ruled that an officer involved fatal shooting that took place at the Roseburg Senior Center in the early morning hours of February 28th was a justified use of force.

Friday morning Douglas County District Attorney Rick Wesenberg met with members of the media to talk about the events that led to the shooting. The incident took place while the facility was being used as the Roseburg Warming Center, due to snow and cold temperatures in the Roseburg area.

Wesenberg said the grand jury heard testimony from 14 witnesses before determining that the shooting of 20-year old Mia Tulasi Dasa by Roseburg Police Officer Jerry De La Fuente was not only justified, but was “simply unavoidable”.

Early that morning Dasa stabbed three people with a “sharp-edged weapon” and fought with several other people inside the warming center before De La Fuente arrived.

Wesenberg said multiple witnesses and volunteers of the center testified that Dasa had been acting erratically since he was brought into the facility the previous evening, but had not given any indication of posing a threat to anyone else staying at the center.

After the lights were turned off for the night, a volunteer said the man began to get more and more agitated before the stabbing incident took place. After three people were attacked, including one that was stabbed through the side of their nose, penetrating the roof of their mouth, other men staying at the center tried to subdue Dasa, but were not successful.

De La Fuente was the first officer to arrive on the scene. He was later joined by Corporal Cameron Derrick, Sergeant Ryan Dingman and officers Paxton Shinn, Kyle Fields and Brayden Wimberly.

Dasa was taken to the center after initially being contacted while walking into traffic, on Interstate 5 near the Edenbower Avenue Interchange. A counselor with Adapt met with Dasa in the parking lot of Home Depot after he taken there by Oregon State Police Trooper Tyler Fugate. The counselor decided the man was not a threat and so he was taken to the shelter as a temporary measure.

Wesenburg said the fatal shooting came only after Dasa was tased four times, pepper sprayed and shot three times with a non-lethal gun, all having no impact on the man who seemed to have “super human strength”. Three shots by De La Fuente led to Dasa’s death.