Calif. officer fatally shot by parolee he was trying to help

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The two Whittier, Calif., police officers arrived in the Friendly Hills neighborhood Monday morning poised to help at the scene of a minor traffic accident.

Instead, they were met by a surprise volley of bullets from a gun in the hand of a recent parolee and known gang member who, authorities allege, had already killed once that day.

The gunfight left one officer dead, another wounded and a weeping, angry police chief casting blame on recent criminal justice reforms meant to reduce incarcerations in the state.

“We need to wake up. Enough is enough,” Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “This is a senseless, senseless tragedy that did not need to be.”

The 26-year-old suspect, who has not been named, is again in police custody less than two weeks after he was released early on parole for unknown offenses, authorities said. Just hours before the man opened gunfire on the Whittier patrolmen, he allegedly shot and killed his cousin in East Los Angeles, then stole his car.

It was from behind the wheel of that car at about 8 a.m. Monday that the suspect rear-ended another vehicle in Whittier, a city in Los Angeles County. He exited the vehicle and asked those he hit to help him push the stolen car from the intersection, reported the Associated Press.

Officer Keith Boyer, a 27-year department veteran pondering retirement, and two other officers responded to the scene and approached the man, who was seated in the car, reported the Los Angeles Times. When the officers moved to pat the man down, he pulled from his waistband a semiautomatic handgun and started shooting at close range, authorities told the Times.

The officers, who were wearing bulletproof vests, returned fire.

“They walked up on the vehicle believing the motorist was in need of medical help,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said during the news conference, “and then they ended up in a gunfight for their lives.”

The suspect and Officer Patrick Hazel, a three-year member of the department, were both wounded in the exchange and transported to a hospital.

Boyer, 53, was killed.

“He was the best of the best,” Police Chief Piper said.

Between tears, Piper described Boyer as a friend and colleague of more than 25 years who was a mentor to his fellow officers, reported the Los Angeles Times. He was the drummer of a local rock tribute band called Mrs. Jones’ Revenge, according to the Times, that played at wineries and weddings.

The band leader Jeff McNeal told the Times that the drumming “was probably a nice release for him, with the kind of high-stress work he does.”

He joined the Whittier force as a dispatcher in 1989 and graduated to full-time officer in 1990, reported the AP. Boyer had recently talked to the chief about retiring.

He was the first Whittier officer killed in the line of duty in 37 years.

Boyer is survived by two adult sons, reported the AP.

“All of us have been grieving,” the chief said at the news conference. “And I didn’t think I had any tears left.”

Piper was joined by Sheriff McDonnell in criticism of several reform measures implemented in the last seven years, reported the L.A. Times – Propositions 47 and 57, and Assembly Bill 109. The measures, McDonnell said, have released too many offenders without first establishing proper social services to prevent recidivism.

“We’re putting people back on the street that aren’t ready to be back on the street,” McDonnell said, according to the Times.

In its story on the fatal shooting, L.A. Times reporters summarized the conflict like this:

“Sheriff’s officials have long criticized Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and downgraded some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. They say AB 109 – which moved state prisoners to local lockups – has pushed lower-level offenders out of custody and onto the streets, giving them little deterrent against committing new crimes. Proposition 57, which passed last year, changed California’s ‘three strikes’ rule and made sentencing more flexible, allowing some prisoners who wouldn’t normally have been eligible for early parole to be considered for release.”

Piper said that the propositions and laws are “raising crimes” and that the effort isn’t “good for our communities and it’s not good for our officers,” reported TV station KTLA 5.

“What you have today is an example of that,” Piper said. “We need to pull our head out of the sand and realize what we are doing to our community and to our officers who give their life like Officer Boyer did today.”

(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Katie Mettler

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