LAPD Officer Killed
Parolee In Custody After Massive Manhunt
Suspect taken into police custody

LOS ANGELES — A police officer shot today while struggling with a
domestic violence suspect who pulled a gun died later -- and the parolee
himself was caught following a search involving hundreds of officers.
It all began about 1 p.m. when a woman called from a home in the 1700
block of West 48th Street to say that she wanted a man there taken out
of the residence. Two police officers arrived and took the man outside
and were beginning to search him when he pulled a gun and started
firing, shooting a 30-year-old officer at close range. There were
conflicting reports, but the officer, who has been identified as
30-Year-Old Ricardo Lizarraga who served 21/2 years on the force and was
married with no children, was believed to have been shot below his
bullet-resistant vest, in the abdomen. With paramedics trying to
resuscitate him, the officer was taken to Cedars- Sinai Medical Center,
where efforts to save him were to no avail, according to City Councilman
Dennis Zine. The former LAPD motorcyle officer spoke near a search
command post.
The officer's death left scores of his colleagues stunned, some of them
crying and hugging at the westside hospital, where relatives of the
officer got the tragic word late this afternoon. Chief Bill Bratton, who
repeatedly has decried the way his officers increasingly are faced with
suspects unafraid of firing on police, was in his hometown of Boston to
attend a ceremony there. Bratton reportedly said recently that officers
were fired on 40 times last year, up from 33 the year before. After
being briefed on what had happened in Los Angeles, the chief caught a
flight back to the city and was expected to arrive this evening.

ABC7's Scott Reiff, describing the 2-square-mile search area that
authorities set up in the aftermath of the shooting, said it was the
largest such "perimeter" he had ever seen in years of covering crimes
from the air. The estimated 300-plus law enforcement officers, including
school police and sheriff's deputies and officers from the LAPD's elite
Metro unit, deployed over a wide area near the bungalow where the
shooting occurred.
They began a methodical house-to-house and alley search that finally
yielded the suspect identified as Kendrick Johnson, 30. By one account,
every available K-9 unit in Los Angeles was deployed during the search.
The suspect was found about four blocks from the shooting site,
apparently hiding in the back seat of an abandoned black, 70s-model car.
The man, handcuffed by then, grimaced as police pulled up his shirt in
search of a tiger tattoo on his left bicep to confirm Johnson's
identity. Police wanted to catch the man before darkness fell, and
before any of the lightning, thunder and heavy rain that caught some
Pasadena residents by surprise this afternoon spread to Los Angeles.
Back at Cedars-Sinai, Assistant Police Chief Sharon Papa spoke with a
loca TV reporter, as scores of LAPD officers stopped by to check on
their colleague. "It's a bit tense upstairs because the officers don't
know what the outcome is going to be ..." Papa said.

"Until (the family members) get here, there's really not a lot we can
say publicly. We don't want them to see it on the television or hear it
on the radio." Papa said officers who know the critically wounded man
best were having difficulty dealing with the situation. "It's kind of
hard to manage it," she said. "It's emotional. It's one of their friends
and co-workers." She said Bratton would be back later. "He's absolutely
on a plane and should be here in the next several hours," Papa said.
Back near the crime scene, LAPD Lt. Art Miller told another reporter
that a "major operation" was under way to find the suspect. "Earlier
today," he said, "two of our officers responded to a domestic violence
call in the 1700 block of 48th street." They came in response to a call
from a woman, he said, who "described problems with her boyfriend" and
"wanted him arrested." Miller said the two officers escorted the man out
of the house and began to search him. As they did, he said, the man
pulled a gun from somewhere and fired. The "partner officer" returned
fire, Miller said, but it was unclear whether the fleeing suspect -- who
when caught seemed to have some sort of a leg injury -- was hit.>>>

Another brother officer called upon for a higher duty. To patrol the
community of Heaven. May God bless him and his families.


<<<California Deputies Shoot Dead Drunken, Off-Duty Corrections Cop

SACRAMENTO BEE

By Molly Dugan -- Bee Staff Writer

A Sacramento County sheriff's deputy fatally shot an off-duty
correctional officer early Saturday in Rio Linda, authorities said.
Miles Wayne Woodford, 44, a correctional officer at California State
Prison, Solano, died a few hours later at Mercy San Juan Hospital from
gunshot wounds to the stomach and arm. Woodford pointed a gun at the
deputy, who had come to Woodford's home to investigate two 911 calls,
said Sgt. Lou Fatur, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department. "He kept
coming at her as she's backing up and ordering him to stop and drop the
weapon," Fatur said. "Fearing for her life, she discharged her gun. She
thought she was going to get shot." Deputies went to the 500 block of
Jamie Court around midnight after two hang-up calls were made to 911.
Fatur said the calls were made by an acquaintance who, with her two
children, was visiting Woodford and his 10-year-old son. Woodford had
been drinking, Fatur said, and the woman was frightened by his behavior.
"He became angry with her," Fatur said. "She was scared of him because
he was heavily intoxicated." When deputies arrived, Woodford was inside
the home and one of the children told him "the cops are here," Fatur
said. Woodford went out the back door, and came around the side of the
house holding his gun, Fatur said. He approached a deputy who was at the
front door talking to the female acquaintance. A second deputy was about
50 yards away, talking to a neighbor who had just left the home.
"He made a conscious decision to arm himself and go out the back,
instead of simply talking to the officer," Fatur said. "Investigators
believe that he intended to ambush the officers."

Investigators recovered several other guns scattered around Woodford's
home within reach of the children, Fatur said. Woodford has no criminal
record, and there were no previous 911 calls made from his home, Fatur
said. Officials with Solano State Prison did not return calls for
comment. The woman who police said made the 911 calls could not be
located. Saturday morning, about a dozen neighbors gathered on the
driveway across the street from Woodford's home, drinking coffee and
discussing the incident, some of them in tears. One neighbor, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, confirmed he and Woodford had been drinking
the night before in Woodford's garage; they had Bud Light and cheap
tequila, the man said, and were "pretty drunk." Still, the neighbors
said they couldn't believe Woodford posed a threat and were outraged
that a deputy had shot him. "He wouldn't threaten anyone. It's totally
out of character for him," said Robert Kezerle, who lives across the
street. "He was totally centered around his son." Several said they did
not hear any ruckus from Woodford's house before the shooting. They said
they could not recall ever seeing Woodford handle his guns. Kezerle said
the last time they spoke, Woodford was telling him excitedly about his
plans for repairing his fence this weekend.

The deputy who fired at Woodford has been placed on administrative
leave. She has been on the force for several years, Fatur said. The
shooting is still being investigated.>>>