MULTIPLE LODD: OAKLAND SHOOTOUT - 5 officers shot, 4 dead

Oakland Police officer LODDs - Schwarzenegger Orders Flags At Half-Staff

Officer John Hege, 41, of Concord

Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, of Danville

Oakland Police Sgt. Daniel Sakai


Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, of Tracy

UPDATE: The funeral for the fallen Oakland Police officers is scheduled for March 27, 2009, at 11:00 AM.

The services will be held at the Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. The services are open to the public. We are asking officers from outside agencies and attendees to arrive early.

Video cameras are not allowed inside the Oracle Arena. Arrangements are being made for a pool camera for a live feed to be shared by the media.

There will be private viewings of the officers on Thursday. These will not be open to the public.

More specific funeral details: Oakland Police Officers association http://www.opoa.org/funeral.htm. or contact the O.P.O.A at 834-9670.

Trust funds have been established for the families left behind, please follow this link to the OPOA website

UPDATE: Tuesday 3-24 - 4th Officer removed from Life Support after organs were donated, 41-year-old Officer John Hege was pronounced dead last night

UPDATE: 3:30 pm March 22, 2009: 4th Officer Still On Life Support
Oakland police are backing off an earlier statement that a fourth officer shot Saturday had died. Oakland police department spokesman Jeff Thomason said 41-year-old Officer John Hege was pronounced brain-dead but was still on life support Sunday afternoon.

UPDATE: The three veteran officers killed were sergeants: Mark Dunakin, 40, of Tracy, a traffic officer with the department since 1991; Erv Romans, 43, of Danville, a 13-year veteran with the force; and Dan Sakai, 35, a nine-year veteran, police said.

Romans and Sakai were SWAT team members. It was the first time any sergeant in the department had been slain.

Officer John Hege, 41, of Concord, was on life support at

Highland Hospital. A bullet grazed a fifth, unidentified officer. He was treated and released from the hospital.
UPDATE: Three Oakland police sergeants shot to death within two hours of one another Saturday afternoon. The first slain officer was identified as Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, who was killed at the first shooting. The two members of the SWAT team who were killed at the second location were Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35. Officer John Hege, 41, is in grave condition.
In honor of the officers, state Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff today

UPDATE: 5 officers shot, 3 officers and gunman dead, fourth officer
gravely wounded.

Five Oakland police officers have been shot, three dead, one critically wounded this afternoon.

Three Oakland police officers have died after they and three other officers were shot by one gunman Saturday afternoon in two separate incidents.

At about 1:15 two of the officers pulled over a suspect on a routine
traffic stop on the 74-hundred block of MacArthur Blvd. The suspect
opened fire and the two went down.

A massive manhunt then got underway and about two hours later, the suspect was located at an apartment in East Oakland, not far from the initial shooting.

Acting police chief Howard Jordan told reporters police were tipped off that the suspect was in a nearby apartment. Officers and the SWAT team moved in and three other police officers were shot by the suspect, though one was just grazed by a bullet.

Officers returned fire and killed the suspect, identified as 27-year old Lovelle Mixon of Oakland.

Three officers were pronounced dead at Highland Hospital, where hundreds of fellow police officers gathered. A fourth remains hospitalized in grave condition.

The first slain officer was identified as Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, who was killed at the first shooting. The two members of the SWAT team who were killed at the second location were Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35. Officer John Hege, 41, is in grave condition.

The suspect was identified as Oakland resident Lovelle Mixon, 26. He was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, police said. He had a no-bail warrant for his arrest on charges of violating parole. He had previous convictions in Alameda County for grand theft and possession of marijuana

Police said Mixon had two different weapons, one at the first scene, and another 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.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was a tragic day for police officers. "All four officers dedicated their lives to public safety and selflessly worked to protect the people of Oakland,'' he said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost, the Oakland Police Department and law enforcement officers throughout California during this difficult time.''

Police said Mixon wielded two different weapons including an assault rifle. One gun was used at the first scene and another 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.

Much of Macarthur and the nearby neighborhoods remained closed to traffic and locked down Saturday evening.

Police say they do not believe there are other suspects involved but their investigation is still ongoing.

Oakland Police line of duty deaths:

• The last Oakland police officer to die in the line of duty was about five years ago. In July of 2004, 39-year-old William Seuis, a motorcycle patrol officer, was struck by a car died in a hit-and-run crash.
• On January 11, 2001, Officer William Wilkins, a 29-year-old undercover narcotics officer, was mistakenly shot by two fellow officers.
  
• On January 10, 1999, 41-year-old Officer James Williams, Jr. was shot by a freeway overpass sniper.
• The last time an officer was killed and another was shot on the same day in Oakland was in 1970 during a gang-involved robbery.
• Gabe Guider and Wendell Troyer were the last two officers to die on the same day in the line of duty, in a helicopter crash in 1974.

  Before Saturday, 47 Oakland police officers had been killed in the line of duty since the department was formed in 1867.

Info sources:
ABC - Link
KGO - Link
Mercury - Link