SEASIDE, Ore. (KOIN) — Sitting in the car with her partner, Rick Derby, shortly after he was discharged from the hospital, Cathy Rose wanted to people to know something.

“He saved his life,” Rose said. “He was a hero.”

Rick Derby said he was saved from a dog attack by Cashus Dean Case, who was later killed in a shooting with Seaside Police officers on July 24, 2018. (KOIN)

That man Rose is referring to is 44-year-old Cashus Dean Case, a man who the Clatsop County DA’s Office said was armed with two black-powder pistols when he was shot and killed in a RV park by two Seaside Police officers on Tuesday afternoon.

Though he was armed, residents and friends say Case wasn’t a threat.

“His whole thing was to save lives yesterday,” Michaela Wilson said. “Not to hurt anybody. And those cops gunned him down in cold blood.”

The Clatsop County DA’s Office said Seaside Police officers were called to Roosevelt Drive and Avenue P around noon on Tuesday because Case was reportedly “waving around two pistols.”

He was angry after three dogs attacked Derby.

“They mauled me, they mauled me,” Derby said. “I made it to the gate and the trailer and I couldn’t get away. I stand up as best as I could and [Case] comes across and drags me by my clothes out the gate and they are still trying to bite me and holds me up on the truck.”

Derby suffered gashes to his nose, face, groin and a gash on his leg “the size of Texas.” He said blood was gushing everywhere, and if it wasn’t for Case, he’d be dead.

“He saved my life,” Derby said. “I can’t believe the cops killed him. That’s insane.”

After the dog attack, when Seaside Police Officers arrived, Wilson said she heard yelling between Case, who was barred from having a firearm based on prior felony convictions out of Idaho, and law enforcement. The Clatsop County DA’s Office said body camera from the officers shows a confrontation with Case.

Moments after the yelling, Wilson said she heard five gunshots.

“I went running outside and the officers were standing with their guns drawn with him laying on the ground dead,” Wilson said.

Those officers haven’t been identified but they are on administrative leave.

The investigation is ongoing.