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 ...
As noted in the original post:
"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."
SKS in a closet... barrel would be too long...
I could be misinformed, but I’m not aware of any helmets that would have helped in this situation.
What they are claiming he did should have been just about astronomically unlikely.
Some closets ... Yes ... Some closets ... No.
you are correct. I have an sks and it uses the same ammo, but my .357 Colt kicks alot harder. Living deep in the country, I can say I don’t know anyone without a semi-automatic weapon of some type...not a single person without one!
There are illegally made full auto weapons out there. I seriously doubt this clown had one. But they do exist. Clever people can convert the semi auto ones to full auto.
Back in the early eighties and the seventies, you could mail order parts to convert practically anything into full auto. There are still some of those parts floating around, and there are people with enough skill to duplicate these parts in their garage.
What the heck good would a helmet be if it couldn't stop a measly little 2000 ft-lb pea-shooter round like this?
I've got shotgun rounds that make half again as much energy as that.
You might as well not even wear a helmet in the first place.
Keep in mind, there was a second party in the apartment who could have become a hostage. The layout of the place also made it impossible to safely evacuate the neighbors. SWAT had spent some time attempting to contact him, without success. So, at least at first blush, this looks like the right call to me.
Yep! And, of course, they have the usual grieving "posse" of budding gangbanging relatives out to blame the cops for his death
Sharnell Mixon (left), Enjoli Mixon and Tameaka Mikon, relatives of Lovelle Mixon gather to remember and talk about him, Sunday March 22, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. (Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle)
The template here at least is three days after the perp is killed:
Same day / next day is repeating whatever they're told, resulting in constantly changing and usually contradictory articles.
Second day is trying to resolve the contradictions, playing "gotcha!" with police sources, and armchair quarterbacking and second-guessing.
Third day is sympathetic interviews with momma, baby-momma, and fellow homies: "he was trying to turn his life around", "my baby never hurt nobody before", "the system failed him", "he ran with the wrong people for too long", etc.
That's tomorrow. Bet on it.
walk-in closet?
Likely, the suspect was crouched down in the closet, with the muzzle pointed in an upwards direction, and he probably just started pulling the trigger when they entered the room, and he got lucky with two head shots. Torso hits might have been survivable, even penetrating the vests...
That’s what i say about all helmets. Motorcycle helmets, bicycle helmets, construction site hardhats...
I am curious to see what LEOs here think of the procedures handling this guy. My guess is mistakes were made.
My walkin closet is 12ft X 7ft...and my SKS would be easy to handle in there. Depends on how deep the closet is.
Today's San Francisco Chronicle: Killer of 4 officers wanted to avoid prison
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 in 2008 after he had violated his parole. His attorney in the assault case, Lisa DewBerry, declined comment Sunday.His family said that while he was behind bars, Mixon married his childhood girlfriend, Amara Langston, and worked briefly as a janitor in Hayward once he got out. He was most recently released from prison in November, his family said.
Then, about three weeks ago, Mixon skipped a home visit from his parole officer, his family said. Mixon's grandmother said he had gotten angry at his parole officer because the agent had missed 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. 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.
"We did pick him up previously, (and) he has been looked at as a suspect in other serious crimes," Hinkle said. "He was a suspect in a murder, but due to lack of evidence, on a homicide, he was charged with other violations."
They might have absorbed any number of torso rounds — maybe even stopped by the vest. We only know the headshots killed ‘em. The vests might have done the job, but sadly if they looked AT/TOWARDS the perp ...
It’s just tragic.
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