Posted on 03/23/2009 10:24:17 AM PDT by Drew68
When Oakland police Sgts. Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai burst into an apartment on 74th Avenue on Saturday, they knew they were entering a dangerous situation. After all, they were looking for a man who had already killed two police officers.
What they didn't know was that the killer, Lovelle Mixon, had somehow gotten hold of an AK-47 assault rifle, police officials say. All they knew was that the gunman who had shot motorcycle officers Sgt. Mark Dunakin and Officer John Hege about two hours earlier used a handgun.
"Nobody knew he had an AK-47," said City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, who was among four council members to join Mayor Ron Dellums and acting Police Chief Howard Jordan for a late-night press conference Saturday.
The bulletproof vests that Romans and Sakai wore were no help - when Mixon fired his automatic rifle through a closet door in the apartment, he hit the two sergeants in the head.
The killings of four officers would devastate any police department. But it was especially traumatic for an Oakland force that has been beefed up in recent years with a lot of young, inexperienced cops.
"We've got a really young force out there, and this is really hitting them hard," officer Bob Valladon, former head of the Oakland Police Officers Association, said Sunday as he drove from one slain officer's home to another to meet with their families. "We've hired maybe 25o new cops in the past five years, so about a quarter of the force has never seen anything like this. No one has.
"These cops (who were killed) were veterans," Valladon said. "The best of the best."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Not really. Those willing to kill have the element of surprise. When the suspect was pulled over, within 2 seconds he could have existed the vehicle, with weapon in hand, and started shooting.
The SKS isn’t prohibited in California. They are for sale quite often at Big 5 and the like. If the gun can be argued to be “historical” than it’s exempted. That’s the loophole I think.
Family’s account of Oakland parolee who killed the four police
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/22/BAAU16L4OI.DTL&tsp=1
“According to police, the first incident happened about 1:15 p.m. when two traffic officers, Dunakin and Hege, were shot after what police described as a “routine” stop of a 1995 Buick in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland, not far from the Eastmont Town Center.
Mixon’s relatives said at the time he was stopped by the police motorcycles, he was apparently looking for a parking space. He had bought the car a week earlier from someone in San Francisco.
Gordon Hinkle, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the family’s assertion that the parole agent had missed a meeting was “highly unlikely,” but added that he is researching the matter.
About two hours after the first shooting, after some 200 officers from Oakland Police, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, BART Police and the California Highway Patrol combed the area for Mixon, three SWAT officers were shot when their team found him hidden in an apartment on 74th Avenue near Hillside Street, police officials said.
Mixon’s sister, Enjoli Mixon, lived in the two-bedroom apartment with her 4-year-old daughter, but said she was not home at the time. However, another sibling, 16-year-old Reynete Mixon, was at the apartment, where she had been sleeping.
Reynete said today that she did not see or hear her brother come in. She said she was in the bathroom when police officers bashed in the front door down, causing her to drop to the floor. The officers ran toward her, she said, shouting and throwing small bombs that shredded her pajama bottoms and caused her legs to bleed”.
Don't forget he got off two headshots against the motorcylcle cops that initially stopped him. With a 9mm apparrently. I know. I'm suprised more people aren't commenting on that aspect.
“I’m sure the SWAT team in Oakland wanted to get this guy bad and maybe emotion replaced tactics...it’s hard to second guess them.”
Don’t we pay a lot of money to these folks and pay to train them - SWAT is suppose to be the best most experienced so that emotion does not replace training.
It would seem it's what you can't see that you'd concentrate on. I understand they were tipped by an anonymous citizen who'd seen the suspect run into the building. I think they were pretty confident a cop killer was inside.
In addition, I heard the suspect left the traffic stop on foot, running from the scene. It would seem likely that his registration was ran, and they quickly determined his last reported address, and all the info from his parole officer in regards to family friends contacts, locations etc.
My gut says that there's a LOT that is being withheld.
Maybe we should highlight the word criminal for the polidiots and presstitutes in the dictionary .
Wow this POS had a real AK-47, select fire, chicom or warsaw pact military issue weapon ? That is rare for such to be in even criminal hands in the CONUS !
They didn’t follow yesterdays laws and they won’t follow tomorrows laws. Draconian punishment is singular solution. Road gangs, hard labor from sunup to sun down is their form of exercise. No parole , no TV, no radio, no contact visitors once a quarter for 10 minutes.
Until punishment is uncomfortable , hard work and the worst place for a person to be then prison is just down time for this trash. If they want to act like trash , treat em like trash !
No joke.
Either this clown was the Carlos Hathcock of gang-bangers, or the Oakland PD are the Keystone Kops, or both, or else there is something about this story which just doesn't pass the smell test.
Seriously - the guys who medal in the Olympics couldn't reliably make shots like these under conditions like these.
These are just astronomically unlikely events.
but, this perp started firing simply because he didn't want to go back to prison. so it already must have been pretty bad!
Was it a FULL auto...or was it a SEMI-auto?
Well that latest account answers some questions. They new where they were going and used flash bangs or concussion grenades. Obviously they didn’t have much affect since he was hiding in the closet.
Lovelle Mixon was convicted in 2002 of assault with a deadly weapon after an armed robbery in San Francisco, family members said. He served time in San Francisco County Jail and Corcoran State Prison. He had been released on parole in 2007, then was sent back to prison for nine months of conjugal visits from the girlfriends he met while a member of his local CRIPS gang after he had violated his parole. His attorney in the assault case, Lisa DewBerry, declined comment Sunday but had previous argued that Mixon "was not threat to society!". His family said that while he was behind bars, Mixon married his childhood girlfriend, Amara Langston, also a CRIP homegirl, and worked briefly as a janitor drug dealer in Hayward once he got out. He was most recently released from prison in November, his family said.
Then, about three weeks ago, Mixon, high on crack, skipped a home visit from his parole officer, his family said. Mixon's grandmother said he had gotten angry at his parole officer because he demanded the agent had missed come to his residence for earlier appointments. Gordon Hinkle, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the family's assertion that the parole agent had missed a meeting was "highly unlikely," but added that he is researching the matter at the cost of taxpayer dollars. He said the department had issued a no-bail, parole revocation warrant for Mixon's arrest after he failed to appear for a meeting with his parole officer.
There fixed it!
I could not agree more, but it's not going to happen.
Way too many are making a lucrative living off our justice system. The revolving doors mean a steady income. IMO, our justice system has been compromised and undermined.
Crime could be reduced radically most everywhere, but it would take a complete overhaul of the machine.
I don't think it'll ever happen.
And he did it not once, but TWICE - to two different officers?!?!?
I agree, Mixon could not have done this as described... but it's probably just lame reporting. That closet door could well have been louvered, offering Mixon a view of the SWAT officers as they entered the room. BANG BANG BANG BANG.
This is perfect! They’ll cease upon this new Crisis by Ceasing all AKs! The gun ban nuts are probably happy this has happened, for it gives them yet another window to pounce in and take away guns... Then when they’re done... the same criminals who used the AKs will... you guessed it... STILL HAVE AKs!
Morons.
That previous (retroactive) ban was on just the SKS variant that could accept detachable AK magazines.
I'm sure the more common fixed-magazine version will be on the ban list now, regardless.
Agree to a point ......Prison was not bad enough to make him stop his criminal activity .....he may have known it was bad, yet he still violated parole etc and was headed back in .........
I know what yer saying yet he didn’t learn the first time !
....sort of like the old joke about the camel driver with two bricks....remember me , want me to do it again ?
Stay Safe TF !
Tis a pisser fer sure D2 !
Stay safe !
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