Oakland News Update: Lovelle Mixon, 26, Suspect in the Shooting Deaths of Four Police, Was Killed by Cops

Lovelle Mixon, 26, was killed by Oakland Police on March 21, 2009. He was out of prison on parole and did not want to return. He is the suspect in the shooting deaths of four Oakland police officers.
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Police: 4th Oakland officer still on life support

By TERRY COLLINS and LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writers

OAKLAND, Calif-– A police officer shot during a traffic stop has been pronounced brain dead but remained on life support, police said Sunday, retracting an earlier statement that he had died.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason announced the death of 41-year-old Officer John Hege earlier Sunday but later said that Hege was being kept alive while a final decision was made about donating his organs.

Police said a 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on Hege and Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, during a traffic stop Saturday afternoon, killing Dunakin, police said.

Lovelle Mixon, the suspect, was slain later Saturday in a gunfight with police that left two more officers dead. Thomason identified those officers as 43-year-old Sgt. Ervin Romans and 35-year-old Sgt. Daniel Sakai.

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

The violence began when Hege and Dunakin, both on motorcycles, stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in east Oakland, Thomason said. The driver opened fire, killing Dunakin and gravely wounding Hege.

The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies. Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland closed to traffic.

Around 3:30 p.m. officers got an anonymous tip that the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building. A SWAT team entered the building and the gunman opened fire, police said. Romans and Sakai were killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police said.

Officers returned fire, killing Mixon, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said.

"It's in these moments that words are extraordinarily inadequate," said Mayor Ron Dellums at a somber news conference announcing the slayings.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff Sunday in honor of the slain officers. He arrived in Oakland on Sunday afternoon to meet with Dellums and members of the police department.

"All four officers dedicated their lives to public safety and selflessly worked to protect the people of Oakland," he said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost, the Oakland Police Department and law enforcement officers throughout California during this difficult time."

Police said Mixon used two different weapons: a gun at the first scene and an assault rifle at the apartment building where he was hiding.

"(Mixon) was on parole, and he had a warrant out for his arrest for violating that parole. And he was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon," said Oakland police Deputy Chief Jeffery Israel.

Police said they did not know why the officers initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a routine traffic stop. Thomason said Mixon had an extensive criminal history and was wanted on a no-bail warrant.

Reached by telephone late Saturday, Dr. John S. Hege said his son loved being a policeman and recently became a motorcycle traffic patrol officer. "He liked excitement," he said.

Hege said the slain shooting suspect "was evidently terribly desperate. It is a sad story."

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento said Sunday that her cousin was "not a monster." She said her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives.

"We're devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We're crushed," she said.


Family: Suspect in Oakland cop deaths feared jail

By TERRY COLLINS and LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writers

OAKLAND, Calif. – Relatives of the man suspected of fatally shooting three Oakland police officers said Sunday the 26-year-old parolee was frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.

The suspect Lovelle Mixon was slain in a gunfight with police during which two officers were killed Saturday, authorities said. Another officer was fatally shot 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 Sunday 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, the family said. While he was in Corcoran state prison, he married his childhood girlfriend, they said.

Mixon's uncle, 38-year-old Curtis Mixon of Fremont, said his nephew had become depressed because he could not find work as a convicted felon. 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," Curtis 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 sedan in east Oakland just after 1 p.m., police said.

The driver opened fire, killing Dunakin and gravely wounding Hege, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

Police initially issued a statement Sunday saying Hege had died but later backtracked, saying the officer had been declared brain dead but remained on life support while a decision was made about donating his organs.

Reached by telephone, Dr. John S. Hege said his son was attached to a ventilator and "looks fine" except for a black eye behind which the bullet was lodged.

"He does not have vital brain function to sustain life and will not regain that," Hege said, adding that the family would soon make a decision about continuing life support.

After shooting Hege and Dunakin, the gunman fled on foot, police said, leading to an intense manhunt.

Two hours later, officers found the gunman inside a nearby apartment building. When a SWAT 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, police said.

Officers returned fire, killing Mixon, police said.

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

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff Sunday. Schwarzenegger returned from Washington, D.C., to meet briefly with Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and members of the police department Sunday afternoon.

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. Oakland had never lost even two officers on the same day.

Yet some details about their lives and motivations for joining law enforcement emerged Sunday.

Friends who knew Sakai from his days at the University of California, Berkeley and his continued involvement in his college fraternity said he was married to a campus police officer and was a father. He and his family lived in Castro Valley.

Oren Levy, a fraternity brother of Sakai, said his friend grew up in Big Bear and was an accomplished mountain biker and outdoorsman who majored in forestry and graduated in 1995.

As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Sakai worked for the campus police department as a student volunteer. After graduation, Sakai spent a year in Japan teaching English.

"His honor was extremely important to him. Whenever there was a situation where someone could take the path that was less honorable, he always advocated doing the right thing," Levy said. "Being a police officer was really perfect for him."

Hege's father said his son, who lived in Concord, loved being a policeman. He worked well with people and was an Eagle Scout. He played high school football and wrestled. He umpired and coached even as a youth, and joined the Oakland Police Department reserves.

After graduating from St. Mary's College in Moraga, he taught high school physical education for a few years in nearby Hayward before joining the police department a decade ago.

He recently became a motorcycle traffic patrol officer, Hege said, adding, "He liked excitement."

As for the slain shooting suspect, Hege said, "The man was evidently terribly desperate. It is a sad story."

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento said Sunday her cousin was "not a monster."

She said her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives.

"We're devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We're crushed," she said.