Ricardo Chaney had just a few minor run-ins with the law prior to March 6, when Eugene police arrested him after finding drugs and a semiautomatic rifle in his car.

Lane County prosecutors didn’t immediately file criminal charges in the case, and Chaney walked free from jail later that same day.

Eugene police Lt. Jennifer Bills said Thursday that authorities weren’t overly concerned when they learned that Chaney — who apparently killed a former University of Oregon professor and a California sheriff’s deputy while carrying out a heinous crime spree on Wednesday — had been released from custody.

Asked during a news conference if police viewed Chaney as a public safety threat after his release, Bills gave a simple answer.

“No. Not at that time,” she said.

Either Chaney had law enforcement officials fooled, or something in him snapped earlier this week.

Bills said police are still trying to establish a motive for the series of bizarre and violent crimes that Chaney, 32, committed in somewhat rapid succession in the hours before he died in a shootout with police in Mendocino County, Calif., shortly before noon on Wednesday.

Chaney’s path of destruction apparently began at the Fairmount neighborhood home of retired UO assistant dean of students George Wasson, who was found shot to death inside his longtime residence on Elk Avenue after firefighters responded to a neighbor’s 911 call at 12:36 a.m.

The neighbor, Svevo Brooks, told The Register-Guard that he awoke to the sound of a car rumbling down the dead-end street just moments before he heard “an explosion” and saw the front of Wasson’s home engulfed in flames.

Bills said Chaney and Wasson, 79, were acquainted, although she did not elaborate on their relationship. Chaney and his family had lived in a nearby home located near the east entrance of Hendricks Park.

The slaying of Wasson “was not random,” Bills said.

Chaney’s late father, Richard Chaney, apparently met Wasson at some point during his 20-year career as a cultural anthropology professor at the UO. The elder Chaney died in 1998.

In a 2001 dissertation titled “Growing Up Indian: An Emic Perspective,” Wasson — a doctoral student at the time — mentioned Richard Chaney in a dedication, writing that Chaney “readily shared esoteric cultural perspectives with me.”

The Chaney family formerly lived in a home near the east entrance of Hendricks Park, not far from Wasson’s house. Ricardo Chaney stayed at the family home until approximately two years ago, Bills said.

After he apparently killed Wasson and set fire to the two-story home, Chaney left the scene in a vehicle that belonged to a friend, Bills said.

About 40 minutes after Brooks reported the blaze at Wasson’s house, police learned of another 911 call — this one from the victims of a carjacking on Kinsrow Avenue near Autzen Stadium, Bills said.

The victims, two men in their 20s, reported that a masked man had approached them while armed with a gun, and forced them to get into the trunk of their 2006 BMW, Bills said.

One of the men was able to swiftly pull a safety latch, which allowed him and his companion to free themselves from the trunk before the car left the parking lot where the confrontation had occurred. The carjacking victims were uninjured, Bills said.

Eugene police subsequently notified law enforcement agencies throughout Oregon and neighboring states to be on the lookout for the stolen BMW.

Roadside confrontation

At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Chaney was involved in another violent encounter, this time on Highway 101 along California’s North Coast.

Mendocino County sheriff’s officials said Chaney exchanged gunfire with the owner of a local tourist attraction who had initially confronted him after finding him urinating outside the business.

The owner told investigators that Chaney grabbed a double-barrelled shotgun and fired at him through an office door, then drove away from the scene. As Chaney fled, the business owner shot at him with a handgun, Mendocino County sheriff’s Lt. Gregory Van Patten said.

About an hour after learning of that incident, sheriff’s officials spotted the stolen BMW traveling south on Highway 1. During an ensuing pursuit, Chaney drove faster than 100 mph and successfully eluded deputies, one of whom — Ricky Del Fiorentino — found him a short time later on a side road north of the town of Fort Bragg, Van Patten said.

Chaney, who was armed with two assault rifles at the time, fired a number of bullets into Del Fiorntino’s patrol car. Fort Bragg police officers arrived and found the deputy dead in the front seat of his vehicle, and Chaney going through the car, Van Patten said.

Chaney then exchanged gunfire with Fort Bragg police Lt. John Naulty, who had his own assault rifle. Chaney retreated into a brushy area and was later found dead after being shot twice. Investigators believe Naulty fired both of the bullets that struck Chaney, Van Patten said.

Bills said police have “no idea” why Chaney drove to Mendocino County in the stolen BMW.

No charges after arrest

Officials with the Lane County District Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, spoke Thursday about their decision not to file formal charges against Chaney in connection with his March 6 arrest in Eugene. Police took Chaney into custody after conducting an inventory search of his car and finding several firearms, including a modified AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and body armor located in the glove box and trunk. Officers had stopped Chaney’s car for traffic violations, and subsequently learned he did not have vehicle insurance, Bills said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Patty Perlow said prosecutors were not ready on the day of Chaney’s arrest to immediately charge him with a gun crime because the modified weapon had been sent to an Oregon State Police crime lab for further “testing.” She did not specify what modification may have been made to the rifle. Some semiautomatic weapons can be illegally converted to fire a number of rounds continuously while the trigger is pressed and held.

Police also booked Chaney into jail on a felony charge of possessing the drug ecstasy, but officials in the district attorney’s office say they do not have funding to employ enough prosecutors to file most simple drug possession cases.

“The March 6 charges against Chaney were not filed because they fell below the current triage standards and involved no violence or threat of violence,” District Attorney Alex Gardner said in a prepared statement.

Chaney’s prior criminal record includes misdemeanor convictions for crimes of third-degree escape and disorderly conduct. He was charged in 2006 with domestic assault, but the felony count was later dismissed.

Follow Jack on Twitter @JackMoranRG. Email jack.moran@registerguard.com.