Oakland Killer Had Just Been Linked to Rape
The day before Lovelle Mixon unleashed a barrage of gunfire that killed four Oakland police officers, the department’s investigators learned that DNA evidence had linked the fugitive parolee to an unsolved rape this year, authorities said Monday.
The possibility that Mixon feared being arrested for rape is a key factor for investigators trying to understand why the 26-year-old Oakland man opened fire on two motorcycle officers who pulled him over for a traffic stop Saturday afternoon at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.
Witnesses said Mixon stood over the wounded officers, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and Officer John Hege, 41, and fired at least one round into each with a handgun before fleeing on foot to his sister’s apartment half a block down 74th, acting Police Chief Howard Jordan said.
Although the reason for the traffic stop isn’t known, Jordan said witness accounts indicate that Dunakin, possibly suspicious of what turned out to be a fake driver’s license, motioned to Hege to remove Mixon from his car just before Mixon opened fire.
When SWAT officers, acting on a tip, later stormed the nearby apartment, Mixon opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle, killing Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, and wounding Sgt. Pat Gonzales before other officers shot him to death.
Source:
Oakland Killer Had Just Been Linked to Rape
amren.com
