When the Troutdale City Council gathered on the second Tuesday in October, a non-descript item was quietly parked at the dead end of the consent agenda:

"A Resolution to Acquire Certain Personal Property and Settle Certain Litigation."

The "discussion points" on page 95 of the councilors' 111-page informational packet were equally vague.

After an unnamed court ordered Troutdale to return personal property in its custody, city attorney Ed Trompke told the council, its owner offered to sell those goods to the city for $3,950.

"Acquisition of the property," Trompke, "is in the public interest."

What property might that be?

One Daniel Defense Armament DDM4 carbine rifle, one of the bullies in the AR-15 family.

Eight 30-round Magpul magazines. A "plate carrier" vest, a United State Army standard-issue laundry bag and "several hundred rounds" of ammunition.

All the property of Lucas Padgett.

The rifle that Padgett's 15-year-old brother, Jared, carried into Reynolds High School in June 2014, when he killed classmate Emilio Hoffman, then himself.

The AR-15 that Multnomah Circuit Judge Michael Greenlick ordered returned to its owner.

Trompke admits he purposefully hid the gun transaction in the weeds of the consent agenda.

"It didn't seem productive," Trompke said, "to re-open the debate between the gun-rights and gun-control groups when what we're talking about is acquiring specific evidence in this specific case."

But it was important, Trompke believed, for the city to secure the AR-15.

There is no statute of limitations in a homicide case. The evidence of associated crimes - conspiracy, aiding and abetting - may take years to develop.

Especially, Trompke says, when the shooter is dead.

His is a lonely fight. The Multnomah County DA's office long ago lost interest in the rifle.

Last November, senior deputy Brian Davidson wrote a 5-page memo in which he addressed whether prosecution for firearm-related crimes was possible or appropriate in the Reynolds shooting.

Lucas Padgett could not be prosecuted for allowing his brother access to the rifle, Davidson writes "because the uncontroverted evidence is that Lucas Padgett kept his rifle in a 'locked container.'"

What's more, Davidson argues, investigators discovered nothing to suggest Lucas or his father, Michael, could possibly anticipate that "Jared Padgett would develop the intent to commit murder, subsequently defeat the measures Michael and Lucas Padgett had taken to secure their guns, and then shoot people at the school."

Even in Multnomah County, prosecutors don't contend that simply bringing an AR-15 into your home constitutes disregard for a "substantial and unjustified risk."

Thus, potential charges against the gun owners in the Reynolds High School shooting, Chief deputy DA Chuck Sparks said Tuesday, have been "declined with finality. This isn't one of those cases that has things out there that can change."

That conclusion was instrumental in Greenlick's September ruling that Troutdale police had 45 days to return the AR-15 to its owner.

"The thought of the weapons that ... were used to commit that horrific crime going back into the community is objectionable, in sort of a general moral outrage sense," Greenlick agreed.

But with no criminal case pending, Greenlick said, Lucas Padgett was entitled to reclaim his property.

Padgett's attorney is Shawn Kollie of the Short Law Group. Immediately after the hearing, Kollie said, "The city came to me and asked if there was a reasonable way to resolve the case."

Both parties agreed $3,950 was a reasonable out.

For Troutdale Mayor Doug Daoust, it was a

that would "help continue the healing process of this terrible tragedy."

For Lucas Padgett, Kollie said, "It was a dollars-and-cents decision: 'Can I get my value and move on?' This was the easiest thing to do.

"People have wildly varying opinions on guns," Kollie acknowledged. "The thing that made the difference in this case is that it was undisputed that items were stolen. If you steal my car and get a DUII, (the police) don't get to keep my car."

Ed Trompke gets that. But he's pondering the fate of the guns used in other school shootings. Will anyone object if the weapons in the Roseburg massacre ever again see the light of day?

-- Steve Duin

sduin@oregonian.com

503-221-8597; @SteveDuin