Suspect in police shootings feared jail, relatives say

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 as a convicted felon he could not find work. 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.

Relatives and co-workers of the four officers requested privacy as they absorbed the enormity of the deaths.

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.