CrimeWatch

OAKLAND (CBS 5) ― California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown offered support to Oakland police officers Sunday as they received confirmation of the death of the fourth officer who was shot Saturday in the deadliest altercation in the Oakland Police Department's history.

The Alameda County coroner's bureau confirmed 41-year-old Officer John Hege's death Sunday, telling the Bay City News service that his official time of death was 10 a.m. Officials said he had been kept alive at Oakland Highland Hospital since being shot Saturday while a final decision was made about donating his organs.

Reached by telephone by the Associated Press, Officer Hege's father, Dr. John S. Hege said his son unfortunately did "not have vital brain function to sustain life."

A 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on Hege and 40-year-old Sgt. Mark Dunakin after they pulled him over Saturday afternoon, killing Dunakin, police said.

Suspect Lovelle Mixon was slain later Saturday afternoon in a gunfight with police that left two more officers dead. OPD identified those officers as 43-year-old Sgt. Ervin Romans and 35-year-old Sgt. Daniel Sakai.

Police said never in OPD's history had so many officers been killed in the line of duty in a single day.

The violence began when Hege and Dunakin, both on motorcycles, stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard in east Oakland just after 1 p.m., police said. The driver opened fire, killing Dunakin and gravely wounding Hege.

The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies. Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland closed to traffic.

Around 3:30 p.m. officers got an anonymous tip that the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building. A SWAT team entered an apartment to clear and search it when the gunman opened fire, police said. Romans and Sakai were killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police said.

Officers returned fire, killing Mixon, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums on Sunday expressed sympathy for family members and the city's police officers, "who are collectively and individually experiencing unimaginable grief and loss."

Dellums also called upon the city's residents to come together.

"We are resilient," he said. "And we must not let the impact of these events harden our hearts."

Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff Sunday in honor of the slain officers. Schwarzenegger arrived in Oakland on Sunday afternoon to meet with Dellums, Brown and members of the police department.

Schwarzenegger's office released a statement late Sunday night saying that both Dunakin, who lived in Tracy, and Romans, who lived in Danville, left behind a wife and three children.

AG Brown, who served as Oakland's mayor for eight years, said his office would support the officers any way it could.

"It's a city that does have its challenges with crime and violence, but the city will overcome this," he said. "It's been making tremendous strides, but there are thousands of criminals wandering around."

Brown said the state's parole system is in dire need of reform, including issuing GPS tracking bracelets to parolees like Mixon.

Police said Mixon wielded two different weapons. One gun was used at the first scene and an assault rifle was used at the apartment building where he was hiding.

"(Mixon) was on parole and he had a warrant out for his arrest for violating that parole. And he was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon," said Oakland police Deputy Chief Jeffery Israel.

Police said they did not know why the officers initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a routine traffic stop. Authorities said Mixon had an "extensive criminal history" and was wanted on a no-bail warrant.

Relatives and co-workers of the four officers requested privacy as they absorbed the enormity of the deaths. Yet some details about their lives and motivations for joining law enforcement emerged Sunday.

Friends who knew Sgt. Sakai from his days at the University of California, Berkeley and his continued involvement in his college fraternity said he was married to a campus police officer and was a father. He and his family lived in Castro Valley.

Oren Levy, a fraternity brother of Sakai, said his friend grew up in Big Bear and was an accomplished mountain biker and outdoorsman who majored in forestry and graduated in 1995.

As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Sakai worked for the campus police department as a student volunteer. After graduation, Sakai spent a year in Japan teaching English.

"His honor was extremely important to him. Whenever there was a situation where someone could take the path that was less honorable, he always advocated doing the right thing," Levy said. "Being a police officer was really perfect for him."

Officer Hege's father said his son, who lived in Concord, loved being a policeman. He worked well with people and was an Eagle Scout. He played high school football and wrestled. He umpired and coached even as a youth, and joined the OPD reserves.

After graduating from St., Mary's College in Moraga, he taught high school physical education for a few years in nearby Hayward before joining the police department a decade ago.

He recently became a motorcycle traffic patrol officer, Dr. Hege said, adding, "He liked excitement."

As for the slain shooting suspect, the father said, "The man was evidently terribly desperate. It is a sad story."

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 he could not find work as a convicted felon. 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.

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento said that her cousin was "not a monster," but added that her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives.

"We're devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We're crushed," she said.

Oakland City Council President Jane Brunner said the tragic events were a reminder of the dangers police officers voluntarily face in their efforts to protect the community.

"Our hearts go out to the officers' families and the pain they are in right now," she said. "This is a time for us to come together and support our police officers."

Brunner said acting Chief Jordan met with the officers' families on Sunday. She praised Jordan's leadership throughout the deadliest event in the department's 157-year history.

The mayor and city council announced a vigil would be held Tuesday night in honor of the fallen officers.

The vigil was set at 6 p.m. at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard where the first shooting took place, Brunner said.

In addition, she said a condolence book would be available in the main lobby at City Hall from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday for members of the community to write their thoughts and pay their respects.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said details about how to make donations in rememberance of the officers would be available on Monday.

Saturday's shooting incidents prompted an outpouring of condolences from the community.

The Oakland Athletics baseball team issued a statement saying some of the officers "were fixtures working our games and some also served as team escorts."

The statement reads, "Our hearts and prayers go out to their families. We appreciate the job that they did, as we do all members of the Oakland Police Department."

From Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, offered her thoughts and prayers to the officers' families.

"The officers who lost their lives were committed to protecting the citizens of Oakland. They worked tirelessly to make a difference in our community, and we mourn their tragic loss," she said.

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