Rigo Landeros, Fillmore's fire chief, assistant city manager and acting public works director, committed suicide this month while on duty in his city car, officials confirmed this week.
Landeros, 51, shot himself in the head in his fire chief's car on a rural section of Goodenough Road on Jan. 7, Ventura County sheriff's, coroner's and Fillmore officials said in response to inquiries from The Star.
A suicide note was found in the car, officials said.
The Sheriff's and County Counsel's offices declined to provide The Star with a copy of the note, saying it is exempt from disclosure under the state Public Records Act given its "highly private and sensitive nature."
The Star reported Landeros' death on Jan. 8, but did not know at the time that the suicide had occurred while he was on duty in his fire chief's car.
The death occurred two days after a Fillmore City Council goal-setting session on Jan. 5 during which Councilman Rick Neal asked Landeros about possible improprieties related to funds used by the Fillmore Firefighters Foundation.
Landeros created the nonprofit foundation in 2011 to help raise funds for the largely volunteer fire department.
City Attorney Tiffany Israel looked into Neal's concerns but determined there were no improprieties, City Manager Dave Rowlands said this week.
Israel said in an email Thursday that she spoke with Landeros on Jan. 6, the day before his death, about two questions "regarding the Fire Foundation that were raised at the study session. In that conversation I did tell Rigo that from the facts I was aware of, it didn't sound like anything inappropriate had happened."
Former Fillmore Councilman Steve Conaway, who was a close friend of Landeros, and current Fillmore Councilman Manuel Minjares, who attended the goal-setting session, said Landeros was upset by Neal's questions.
But neither said they believed that questioning directly led to or was the sole reason for Landeros' death.
"We had talked Wednesday (Jan. 6) and we talked again that Thursday morning (Jan. 7) and I knew that he was upset about the activity at the goal-setting session," Conaway said. "The challenges to his integrity just tore him up.
"But the part I will never have an answer to is how he came to the conclusion that (suicide) was his only option," he said. "It's a tragic event, and I'm just sick about the whole thing."
Minjares said Neal's questions "were pretty stressful" for Landeros.
"But at the same time, if you talk with any mental health professional on the topic of suicide, it's not any one issue that causes someone to go down that road," he said.
Neal said there was nothing inappropriate about his queries.
"I just asked Rigo some questions," said Neal, one of the city's volunteer firefighters. "There were some things I thought we could clean up the way we do business. And he seemed real agreeable. 'No problem, we can fix that.'
"Other council members were there. They were nodding their heads at the same time. Nobody said, 'You know, this is inappropriate questioning, Rick,'" he said.
Minjares disputed that. He said Wednesday he thought the line of questioning was inappropriate for a goal-setting session and essentially said so at the meeting.
"I said, 'Look, Rick, this is a goal-setting session. I don't hear you formulating your comments on this issue in the form of a goal,'" he said. "And that ended the whole line of questioning.
"I think the appropriate place to do that, when you think staff has done something inappropriate, is behind a closed door, not at a public meeting," Minjares said.
Unlike other council meetings, the goal-setting session was not videotaped and posted to the city's website. The minutes of the session won't be available until after the council's Feb. 9 meeting, Rowlands said.
At the council's Jan. 12 meeting, Fillmore Firefighters Foundation officials denied any improprieties in a statement.
"We understand that at last week's goal-setting session, the foundation's fundraising expenditures and accounting practices came into question, as well as Chief Landeros' participation in decision-making," the statement said. "We want to assure the council and the public that the foundation is following all accounting practices set forward by federal and state standards.
"Furthermore, Chief Landeros was not a voting member nor signed any checks to cover expenditures the board agreed and voted to fund," the statement said.
Neal said Wednesday he hadn't been trying to undermine Landeros.
"Absolutely untrue," he said. "I'm heartbroken. Rigo was my friend." The two played pool together the Saturday before his death, Neal said.
"I have no idea" why he committed suicide, Neal said. "It just doesn't make sense."
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