‘He Loved With His Whole Heart’: Family Pushes For Change After Not Guilty Verdict In A Deadly Stillwater Shooting

Stillwater's 2022's Best Local Citizen Landon Aufleger was killed in April of last year.

“The town that he loved. The town that I grew up in and was raised in failed my son,” Camari Aufleger said.

He was shot several times by Darrin Bacchus as he was getting in his car outside a Stillwater barbershop following a fight.

"The evidence conclusively showed that the decedent likely had a gun in his hand after one of the assailants yelled for him to go get a gun," Andrew Casey, Bacchus’s attorney said.

“They didn't just take Landon from us, they took so much more,” Alexa Aufleger, Landon’s sister, said.

Aufleger's parents said the trial was hard to sit through. Bacchus told the jury he acted in self-defense.

“What's so important for me throughout all of this was not letting my son's name be sabotaged cause he was a great kid. He loved with his whole heart,” Camari Aufleger said.

They also learned there was a technology failure making videos and audio from a criminal investigation room unavailable. The City of Stillwater says:

“Last October, the city says videos and audio from one criminal investigation room are not available due to a technology failure, and it's unknown how many cases may be impacted going forward until a full audit is complete. Data was preserved up to January 2022 because of a software backup. All files are backed up, so the information is not lost.”

“They should've taken more time to collectively get everything in order before you go to trial for something of this magnitude,” Charles Bibbs said.

Auflegler's family believes this all played a role in Bacchus being found not guilty.

“Darrin gets to go home and kiss his kids and my nephew worries because he sleeps in the same town as him,” Alexa Aufleger said.

“The jury’s verdict accurately captured the severe and traumatic damage that no less than four people including the decedent savagely reeked upon Mr. Bacchus,” Casey said.

The others involved in the altercation plead the fifth when called to testify.

Now they fight for other families. Bibbs said the mission is to teach the next generation how to handle conflict before another life is taken.

“The Forever Foundation was created to help young men who just need a place to talk to other adult men on the decisions in life that are going to come before them sooner than later,” Bibbs said.

Bibbs said he wants to create a space for men to talk about their issues. They’re also hoping to start a college fund which is something Bibbs thinks will help Aufleger’s kids.

“I believe education solves everything. I believe the more educated you are, I don’t think Darrin Bacchus would’ve gone to get that gun and came back inside. I think society and culturally we’re failing our youth and giving them the proper tools to deal with what’s going on,” Bibbs said.