Discussion of 4 LEOs killed in Oakland CA

[Archangel M]

4th officer still on life support

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland police are backing off an earlier statement that a fourth officer shot Saturday had died.


Oakland police department spokesman Jeff Thomason said 41-year-old Officer John Hege was pronounced brain dead but was still on life support Sunday afternoon.


Thomason said that a final decision was still being made about donating Hege's organs.

 

[Archangel M]

Of course the NYTimes has to turn the tragedy into a referendum on race:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/22oakland.html?_r=1&em

The Associated Press reported Saturday that people lingered at the scene of the traffic-stop shooting. About 20 bystanders taunted the police.

As if the Transit Police shooting had anything to do with a felony warrant suspect shooting Oakland PD cops.

I will refrain from commenting on this liberal rag for fear of burning out the forums language filters.

 

[Archangel M]

I don't know all the details of the final gun battle, but I wonder why the SWAT team decided to make entry on this piece-o-trash.

 

[Archangel M]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090322/ap_on_re_us/police_shot_ca

OAKLAND, Calif. – Police say the fourth Oakland police officer shot on Saturday has died at a city hospital.
Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason says 41-year-old Officer John Hege died Sunday at Highland Hospital after being gravely wounded during a traffic stop.
Authorities say a 26-year-old parolee opened fire on Hege and 40-year-old Sgt. Mark Dunakin after they pulled him over around 1 p.m. on Saturday, killing Dunakin.
Suspect Lovelle Mixon was slain later that afternoon 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.


...

 

[Carol]

I don't know all the details of the final gun battle, but I wonder why the SWAT team decided to make entry on this piece-o-trash.

Wasn't it because the felon fled the scene and ran in to an apartment? There were two different murder scenes, one was a the traffic stop where the motorcycle officers were shot, the second at the apartment where the two SWAT team members were shot.

 

[Archangel M]

Exactly so. It sounds like they tracked the guy down to an apt. I'd have been of the opinion that unless there was a hostage, I would have just set-up a perimeter and waited him out. I don't know all the details though, perhaps they chased him to the location? The news says that they located him after a manhunt..just wondering.

 

[terryl965]

All I know it was a shame and my prayers go out to all the family members.

 

[sgtmac_46]

I don't know all the details of the final gun battle, but I wonder why the SWAT team decided to make entry on this piece-o-trash.

A big question I have......of course there's far too little detail to second guess them. I imagine that this incident will become a new fundamental training lesson in the way that the Newhall incident has been for decades.

We owe it to our fallen brothers to bury our honored dead......then set about learning their lessons so that others may live and they did not die in vain.......

 

[Archangel M]

Absolutely. When cops ask "why" its typically to learn..not lay blame.

 

[Bikewr]

Little in the way of real details here. The gunmans weapon at the apartment was described as an "assault weapon"; nothing further.
Another source indicated the guy started firing through the wall. If the officers were lined up in their typical "pre-entry" formation, they would have been vulnerable to shots from the side.

I too wonder why they entry. Perhaps a bit too eager, due to the earlier shooting? No doubt this will come out...
I think I would have done the perimeter/negotiation thing.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Little in the way of real details here. The gunmans weapon at the apartment was described as an "assault weapon"; nothing further.
Another source indicated the guy started firing through the wall. If the officers were lined up in their typical "pre-entry" formation, they would have been vulnerable to shots from the side.

I too wonder why they entry. Perhaps a bit too eager, due to the earlier shooting? No doubt this will come out...
I think I would have done the perimeter/negotiation thing.

Soon enough we'll be learning the detailed lessons of this incident(s)..........I say incidents because it appears as thought this was two, connected, but separate incidents........the traffic stop........and the subsequent tactical operation.

We'll learn some lessons about the traffic stop itself........and the tactical operators among us will try to apply the lessons from the tactical operation.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Cop-killer raped 2 on day of attack, police say

(05-04) 18:44 PDT OAKLAND --
The man who gunned down four Oakland police officers had robbed and raped two women at gunpoint earlier the same day as they set up a food cart in East Oakland, police said Monday.

Police said earlier that Mixon was tied through DNA to the Feb. 5 rape of a 12-year-old girl in the East Oakland neighborhood where Mixon lived and where the officers were shot to death. The department was notified of the genetic match in that case the day before the killings.
On Monday, investigators said a state laboratory had confirmed that Mixon's DNA matched that of the man who raped two women the morning of March 21.

Mixon fled to his sister's apartment on 74th Avenue. About two hours after the first shootings, he fatally shot two members of the Oakland police SWAT team, Sgts. Ervin Romans, 43, and Daniel Sakai, 35, with an assault rifle when the team stormed the apartment. SWAT officers then shot him to death.
Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, said Monday that the latest information shows what kind of person officers were dealing with that day.
"It doesn't change what happened," he said. "All it says is, to his supporters - this is who you're supporting. Congratulations for supporting a monster.
"It doesn't really matter, though, because in the end, it doesn't bring the guys back."

 

[BLACK LION]

He did not use an ak47 he used an SKS sporter with a full buttstock.
These are not considered "assault rifles" even with a detachable magazine unless the pistol grip is added.
If I am not mistaken it is also semi-auto unless the fire control group was changed or tamered with.
They did set sharpshooters but the entry team was trapped in a "death tunnel" which is a worst case scenario for an entry team to face.
Especially if the gunman is utilizing rifle cartridges. Soft body armor and mich/ach helemts do not stop specialty threats and rifle cartridges.

Here is a news report with some more details.

"Within 45 minutes of the initial traffic stop, police from Oakland and other agencies had blocked off the street and surrounded the apartment building. A SWAT team, led by Dan Sakai, 35, of Castro Valley, and camouflaged sharpshooters got into position. Police attempted to make contact with Mixon but got no response. Believing the public may have been in danger, the team decided to enter the apartment, sources said. Sakai; Erv Romans, 43, of Danville; Officer Pat Gonzales; and three other Oakland officers forcibly entered the apartment and made their way down a dark hallway. At some point, at least one and possibly two flash-bang grenades were fired into the apartment. Mixon, who police believe was hiding in a closet in a back bedroom, began firing through the door and wall, without warning. Romans was the first officer hit, police sources said. The officers did not see Mixon but returned fire in the direction of the gunshots. One or two officers started dragging Romans out of the room, hearing bullets whizzing by their heads. An Alameda County sheriff's deputy who had SWAT training saw them carry Romans outside and went into the apartment to help return fire, sources said. Mixon was killed, but not before Sakai received a mortal wound to the head, sources said. Gonzales was hit in the shoulder, and a bullet grazed his SWAT helmet. He drove himself to Highland Hospital, where he was treated and released. Mixon's 16-year-old cousin, who was sleeping inside the apartment when the officers broke inside, was not hit."

 

[BLACK LION]

Here is a picture of the rifle he used to assault swat..

 

[Bob Hubbard]

which looks like an AK47 to a casual viewer.

 

[BLACK LION]

which looks like an AK47 to a casual viewer.

More like someone who knows nothing about firearms
The only thing that resembles and ak47 is the magazine and maybe the front sight post

Regardless, he was a "prohibited" person and the sks and the pistol shouldnt have been anywhere near him.
I brought up the firearm becuase of the news reports I read that stated in fact it was an ak47 when it clearly is not. On top of that they keep specifying it as an assault weapon which it is not.

Thanks for getting the thread going btw... made me do some homework.