he was dressed, the male emerged from the house and pulled a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun from behind him. Allegedly placing the weapon at the officer’s throat, he reportedly fired twice instantly killing the officer, who was wearing body armor. Stealing the victim officer’s patrol car, he fled the scene. However, a short time later he was apprehended in a wooded area east of Hot Springs. The 23-year-old alleged assailant was arrested and charged with Capital Murder. CALIFORNIA A 91l call to the Pomona Police Department at approximately 1:35 a.m. on May 11 alerted dispatch that one of their officers was down. A security guard, who had come to investigate the sound of gunfire in a remote section of Pomona, discovered the body of the 37-year-old police officer and saw two individuals running from the area. Responding officers found the downed officer, who was wearing body armor, lying near the open door of his marked patrol car with a single gunshot wound to the front of his head. Further investigation indicated that the victim officer, an 11-year law enforcement veteran, had stopped three suspicious pedestrians, two males and a female. While he was searching one male, a second male allegedly retrieved a concealed .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shot the officer. All three then fled the scene in different directions. A subsequent search of the area turned up an electronic pager, which was traced to a male parolee who had a history of arrests for numerous offenses including burglary, robbery, receiving stolen property, and battery. Following an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force, the 22-year-old owner of the pager was arrested in Arizona on May 22 and charged with Homicide. At 9 p.m. on July 13, an officer with the California Highway Patrol in Orange County
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was killed while attempting to impound a vehicle. The 25-year-old officer, who had 1 year of law enforcement service, stopped a vehicle for unknown reasons. During the traffic stop, the officer, who was wearing body armor, determined that the man was driving with a suspended license. The officer began to inventory the vehicle when a struggle between the officer and the driver ensued, and both men fell to the ground. The first to get up, the driver allegedly fired seven rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun at the victim officer who remained on the ground, striking him in the rear lower torso, the front below the waist, and fatally twice in the head. The man then allegedly took the victim officer’s service weapon and fled in the patrol vehicle. Within an hour, the abandoned patrol car was recovered 7 miles from the scene of the murder. With assistance from the FBI and the Houston Police Department, a 25-year-old suspect was apprehended in Texas 4 days later and charged with Murder. On July 17 at approximately 6 p.m., a 26-year-old deputy with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was fatally wounded. Along with three fellow deputies, the victim deputy, who had 2 years of law enforcement service, responded to a domestic dispute involving a man with a gun. The deputy, who was wearing body armor, entered a residence from which a woman had reportedly been seen fleeing. A male positioned behind the front door allegedly fired three shots from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at close range into the rear of the victim deputy’s head. The man then allegedly engaged in gunfire with the assisting deputies. After suffering a wound in his torso, the alleged assailant was taken into custody. The victim officer was rushed to a nearby medical facility where he was pronounced dead following emergency treatment. It was later determined that the 48-year-old alleged assailant had a lengthy criminal history; he has been charged with FirstDegree Murder.
