Police shooting suspect 'feared jail'

Relatives of the man suspected of shooting dead three California police officers said the 26-year-old parolee was frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.

Lovelle Mixon was killed in a gunfight with police during which two officers were killed in Oakland on Saturday.

Another officer was shot dead earlier in the day and a fourth gravely wounded after the two of them pulled Mixon over for a routine traffic stop, police said.

Mixon’s family gathered at his grandmother’s East Oakland home, where he had stayed on and off since being released from a nine-month sentence for a parole violation, family members said.

He had previously served six years in state prison for assault with a firearm during an armed robbery in San Francisco. While he was in Corcoran state prison, he married his childhood girlfriend, the family said.

Mixon’s uncle, Curtis Mixon, 38, of Fremont, said his nephew had become depressed because he could not find work as a convicted criminal. His nephew expected authorities to issue an arrest warrant for missing parole meetings, even though the he felt he was not to blame, he said.

“I think his frustration was building up, but he was trying to better himself,” Mr Mixon said.

Mixon was wanted on a no-bail warrant for violating his parole when Sgt Mark Dunakin, 40, and Officer John Hege, 41, both on motorcycles, stopped a 1995 Buick saloon in east Oakland, police said.

The driver opened fire, killing Sgt Dunakin and severely wounding Officer Hege, police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

Police initially issued a statement yesterday saying Officer Hege had died, but later said he had been declared brain dead, but remained on life support while a decision was made about donating his organs.

After shooting the officers, the gunman ran off, police said, leading to an intense manhunt.

Two hours later, officers found the gunman inside a nearby apartment building. When an elite police team entered, the gunman opened fire, police said.

Sgt Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt Daniel Sakai, 35, were killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet.

Officers returned fire, killing Mixon, police said.

Mixon’s sister Reynete, 16, said she was sleeping when police kicked in the door and threw flash grenades, one of which struck her and burned her leg. She said she did not know her brother was in the apartment when she fled as shots rang out.

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento, said her cousin was “not a monster”.

She said her family’s prayers were with the murdered officers’ relatives.

“We’re devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We’re crushed,” she said.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-mast yesterday.

Police said never in the department’s history had so many officers been killed in the line of duty in a single day.

Relatives and co-workers of the four officers requested privacy as they absorbed the enormity of the deaths.