The atrocity last Saturday in Oakland, California has sickened a nation. Lovelle Mixon, 26, had first gone to prison at age 20 for assault with a firearm, but had amassed numerous serious felony convictions in his short life. He was free on parole, and it has since been confirmed that he knew he had violated his parole and was likely to be arrested and sent back to prison for five to nine months.
It was announced yesterday that DNA evidence tentatively links Mixon to a violent sexual assault some weeks ago. The rape victim is a 12-year-old girl. If he believed he was going down for that, he would have known he’d be looking at a much longer prison term. When two Oakland motorcycle cops pulled him over for a routine traffic stop Saturday, he approached them at their bikes, sneaked out a semiautomatic pistol, and shot them both down. As the gravely wounded men lay helpless, Mixon stood over them and fired execution shots into both.
Mixon fled to his sister’s apartment, arming himself with a 7.62X39mm semiautomatic rifle. When an OPD SWAT team made entry a few hours later, Mixon opened fire, killing two of the officers and wounding one more. Return fire, reportedly from the wounded team member, finally dispatched the murderer to the entry portals of Hell.
Five good cops had been shot. At this writing, three are deceased and the fourth has been declared brain-dead as surgeons wait to harvest his body organs for transplant. The fifth survived.
What sickens me even more than this tragic loss is that at the scene of the first double cop-killing, some twenty people – some of whom witnessed the execution-murders – taunted police and shouted “Payback for Oscar!” They were speaking of Oscar Grant, killed on New Years when a young officer of the Bay Area Transit Police shot him during an arrest. Facing murder charges, the BART officer has stated through his lawyer that he was trying to deploy his TASER and drew and fired his pistol by mistake instead.
Once Mixon was ensconced in his sister’s apartment, it turns out, many people in the building knew he was there but none would “snitch” on the cowardly murderer. When someone finally did call in a tip, rather than leave the suspect unmolested to shoot more people from the apartment windows, police made the entry that cost two of them their lives.
Words fail me. Printable words, anyway.
Deepest condolences to the families and colleagues of the lost guardians: Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt. Erv Romans, and Sgt. Dan Sakai. Donations to the memorial fund can be sent here.
May the families of those martyred cops – and a certain 12-year-old girl – one day be able to spit in the faces of those who mocked the dead policemen.
I feel so sorry for these officers but what makes me more angry then anything is the fact this piece of trash was allowed back out on the streets. I am sure this will end with a call for more bans on guns but what we need is criminal control. I am not talking about someone who steals bread for his family, I am talking about people who have 5 or 6 violent criminal offenses that are serious and involve aggression or injury to someone. I am reminded of the two parolees in Connecticut as I recall; who raped and killed a mother and daughter.
I am all for people getting a second chance but when 80 percent of crimes are committed by 10 percent of the population a line has to be drawn.
I am sorry if I have hijacked this, I feel for the officers and their families but this idea of violent criminals getting chance after chance is a soap box issue for me.
Rant over…
As the saying goes, the veil of civilization is quite thin.
You will always find beasts among us. This savage side to mankind lurks just below the surface. It requires the authority and force of the state to keep it in check.
Every so often the beast raises it head. We forget too quickly how close we are to him.
OPD should walk off the job for a few days to remind people how much they are needed.
There should be a special place in hell for those who watched cheered or didn’t rat this piece of dung out.
Thank you for this report Mas.
California residents, please pay attention. Your government is releasing more criminals as a “cost-cutting” measure. There have been articles on this site about the “thin blue line” and you should read them carefully.
As government budgets nationwide begin to feel the pinch, we should all re-evaluate our security. Train yourself and your loved ones. Nobody desires the “wild west”, but we may be thrust into such times.
Drug cartels are here and functional, without much public outrage. http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs31/31379/appenda.htm#Map6
You didn’t hijack the thread at all, Tony. I thoght you were absolutely on point.
I live near there and indeed, as news crews were filming people going to the memorials, certain thugs were yelling out “HAHA!” from their cars as they drove by. The Oscar Grant thing is still a very sore subject for many of these residents.
What turns my stomach in knots is the renewed calls for “more gun control” to prevent these kind of things. How can people be so incredibly stupid? The guy was a felon. The law says he should not have a gun, period. There is no law possible that would have kept him from accessing that gun. Already NPR is saying this shooting could be the impetus for a new AWB, even though we all know it would have done NOTHING to prevent it.
I know I am preaching to the choir here on this blog. It’s just the insanity that violent parolee’s can run around the area I live (CA) with AK’s robbing and killing cops and I am not allowed to carry a concealed weapon to protect myself. If I do, I join their ranks as felon.
And Massad, you forgot to add that the coward was hiding in a closet, shooting through the door when he killed the SWAT team members. Too much of a p**** to look even them in the eye.
Mas,
Oakland, like many of our big cities are out of control. To see what daily life is like in Oakland, read the on-line version of the Oakland Tribune. Now, judges have ordered another 50,000 felons released because the prisons compromise the prisoners healthcare. When is enough, enough?
BTW, I attended an officer survival course at the Chapman Academy in 1983. Thanks – it came in handy.
Prayers for the fallen Officers, their families, that little girl, and the rest of his unknown victims.
A felon on parole kills cops: how many times do we have to go through this before we change the system?!!
Reminds me of Newhall, but with instead of helping the cops, these onlookers cheered the bad guy.
I feel so sorry for the officers and their familes. While I am not going to preach to anyone about religion, this is be an example of PURE EVIL. I am so glad to live in a state (Indiana) that allow lifetime carry permits. You can bet pure evil will raise it’s ugly head again. I will be ready it a pure evil person attacks me or my family.
Side bar – Mas, I love PDTV and you insight!, Thanks, Rick
Condolences to the families of the Heroic officers. I cant say any more than what has been said here. Its a tragedy and I agree, keep them felons in jail. It always comes down to money and good people die because of this. Officers and law-abidng citizens both suffer when violent criminals are let out of jail .enforce the laws we have on the books already. This might not have happened. Maybe we should lock up the Judges who let them go into the streets too early.. Now more than ever we need to protect ourselves. The good officers cant do it alone. We should stand shoulder to shoulder with the officers and not against them as the discusting cowards yelling at them did. What a shame.
This is a sad day for all. My prayers go out to the families and friends of these officers. My family has been involved in law enforcement also. Its a shock of reality when these events hit so close to home. Its totally out of line, that the ignorant and uninformed would cheer other human beings losing their lives. I think the whole episode is a dim assessment of our society, and the flaws in not enforcing the laws we have. We have a cultural, “people problem” that goes to the root of gun legislation. Video games and Hollywood glorify this behavior. I hope folks understand its a problem with the criminals and not the firearms.
As an Oaklander, I want to thank You Mr. Ayoob for calling attention to the tragedy that has struck our city and police department. It’s one of the unfortunate facts of life here in the Bay Area that while the overwhelming majority of us are decent, law-abiding and hardworking people, whatever city or neighborhood we live in, we’re stuck with an entrenched population of both extremely nasty criminals and extremely nasty left-wing apologists for them. I don’t think that any other urban area in America has quite the toxic mix of the two that we suffer here.
There isn’t much to say to the families and friends of those officers that doesn’t sound like a cliche. How can this happen?
>numerous serious felony convictions
>on parole
>he approached them at their bikes?
I’m sure I know less than anybody about the legal/penal system but something just doesn’t add up. I guess I’ve been living in Mayberry for too long.
God keep those fallen men.
Merciful heavens . . .
The words I would type are not fit for print.
My heart and prayers to the Officer’s families and loved ones. I have some views on the Penal System, but too many sheeple would consider my ideas too draconian to ever implement.
To the heros, I salute you.
To the people that cheered and watched them die, may you rot in hell.
Biker
This story makes me sick.
The truth is, those who choose to ignore the law, who choose not to help, and who make a conscious decision to watch inocent people be killed, are criminals themselves. They have no respect for the law, for human life or rules that society have to live by, yet they are the ones who cry out for help and beg for mercy when the shit hits the fan. The fact it, what goes areound comes around people, it is called the universal law. Remember, this when you seen an injustice and just stand around watching and do nothing!
Well, at least we have some of these protesters faces on video…
Last night on the O’Reilly Factor,Bill covered the “rallies”/”demonstrations” where large numbers of African-Americans took to the streets calling Lovelle Mixon a Hero for delivering “payback” to the OPD.
My blood was boiling after watching this as I imagine was the case in many households.I have never understood what is going on in the minds of these demonstrators.They say they are protesting “Police Brutality” or “Police Racism”,but by condoning the Murder of these 4 INNOCENT Police Officers as retribution for some real or imagined isolated case of brutality/racism against Blacks puts these demonstrators in the same class as the KKK,Neo-Nazi’s & those who they claim to oppose.
Police Officer’s are people first & make mistakes like anyone else.There are good Police Officer’s(the majority I think by far are good people) & bad Police Officer’s, just like there are good Black people & bad Black people & to lump all LEO’s in one group based on the actions of a very selct few in just as bigoted and styerotypical as the those who they supposedly are protesting.
I hope that leader’s in the Black Community will speak out against these demonstrators as not being representative for the vast majority of Black Americans.
Curiously, the Brady Campaign has completely ignored this tragedy on their website. Surely this lack of attention can’t have anything to do with the fact that it happened in their darling California….
Obviously this is all a big mistake. It couldn’t have happened. After all, the weapon the poor misguided young man allegedly used in the second of his alleged shootings isn’t allowed in the State of California, so he couldn’t have possibly had it in his possession. And besides, he couldn’t have shot the first two officers anyway. Felons aren’t allowed to have guns.
You know, I don’t mind really that there are so many sheeples out there. What gets to me is that they expect me to join them. I’ll NEVER turn in my claws and fangs.
It was really, really sickening to see the TV coverage of all those sub-human, scum-sucking, low-lives chanting and mocking the victims, the mourning families, and the rest of the police. If there was ever a wakeup call to be seen regarding the true level of evil and villainy that exists out there, this was it.
My best wishes to the living, my prayers for the dead and the mourning,
45StayAlive
Feinstein was at the funeral…I am sure the gun control issue will be raised.
As far as the protests it is an unfortunate fact of life in a free country. Just like those religious zealots who protest at military funerals, these people represent a minority of twisted individuals.
My condolences to the families of the officers.
If we have on video the faces of those that chanted and SUPPORTED the murder of those officers, then why aren’t they hunted down like the dogs they are and tried for accessory to murder. For indeed they are guilty. Some examples of those kinds of people might just go a long way in raising the level of conscious of those that have no conscious. They stood by and willing participated in the murder of the officiers by their neglect to do anything about it. They participated in the murders by their ranting and incouragement of a soulless maniac.
Charge them with murder the same way the driver of a car in a bank robbery where someone is killed is charged with murder by participation. They may not have actually pulled the trigger but they by all rights have earned the same kind of sentence as the idiot that pulled the trigger.
Message to Certain Blacks in Oakland: I’m Tired of Your Lame Excuses
By Robert Oliver
Yes, that’s right. You love your blackness more than you love common sense, sometimes even more than your own people. Must I sue for divorce from the Black community on the grounds of mental cruelty?
I’m black. I grew up in Chicago, the most segregated city in the North. I’m from “da hood” too. There was a time I experienced racism every day for 4 years there. So I know what racism is about.
But yet, you scream, yell and protest because of a CRIMINAL who murdered four cops. They did not shoot him first. He shot them first. Is that an act of Black bravery, qualifying for the El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) Peace Prize? Is a hero now? (Remember Malcolm had to protect his family, not from white folks, not from cops, but from his own people who eventually killed him.)
You all claim you are like Palestinians in Gaza, in an “occupied territory” as if you are shut in a “prison” with nowhere to go. You are the occupiers. Who took you from Africa and put you in Oakland? Who is keeping you in slavery there? If you don’t like the “oppression,” you should do what you can to leave if you were serious. You are in a prison with unlocked jail cells. You are free to go anywhere, even to Africa, the Motherland, if you wanted to. I don’t hear about oppression in San Francisco. I don’t even hear about oppression in Los Angeles. Even blacks in Chicago don’t scream about oppression as you are doing as bad as things are there.
The whole world watches, and I’m tired of your lame excuses.
Your guy Mixon shot the cops, not even in self-defense. He pulled the trigger first, killing those four cops doing their jobs, and that makes him a Black hero, right? They did not shoot him until he had to be killed because he was killing others. This is what the Los Angeles Times says:
“In October 2007, Lovelle Mixon was released on parole after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assault with a firearm. Within months the 26-year-old Oakland resident was in trouble again, authorities said.
“In February, Mixon was placed on a parole hold as a possible suspect in a homicide in Alameda County, according to Scott Kernan, undersecretary of operations for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prosecutors declined to file charges in that case, saying there was not sufficient evidence, but Mixon was detained on various parole violations and sent back to prison for nine months, Kernan said.
“Here is a look at Mixon’s interactions with the parole department since his Nov. 1 release from the California Correctional Center in Susanville, as reported by the department :
“Nov. 3: Mixon reports to his parole agent for an initial interview and undergoes his first mandatory drug test.
“Nov. 5: Mixon reports to Parole and Community Team, a state program that offers a broad range of services to parolees. The agency provides job placement, drug treatment and other services. During the visit, he met with his parole agent and again was tested for drugs.
“Nov. 7: Mixon’s parole agent makes an initial residential visit, meeting with Mixon at his mother’s home in Oakland. The agent also met with relatives of Mixon to evaluate his living conditions and who he was interacting with while on parole. During the visit, Mixon is referred by the agent to America Work, an employment service.
“Dec. 17: Mixon’s parole agent makes a residential visit, also meeting with one of Mixon’s cousins as part of their continuing effort to assess his family situation.
“Dec. 19: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Jan. 6: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Jan. 23: Mixon’s parole agent makes a residential visit and refers Mixon to another employment service, Project Choice Employment.
“Feb. 6: Mixon reports to the parole office and takes a drug test.
“Feb. 18: Mixon’s parole agent makes a residential visit but cannot locate him.
“Feb. 24: Mixon’s parole agent makes another residential visit but Mixon cannot be located. The agent talks with his mother.
“Feb. 26: After another residential visit, the agent still cannot locate Mixon.
“Feb. 27: The parole agent prepares a parolee-at-large report and a warrant is issued for Mixon’s arrest. The state Board of Parole Hearings suspends Mixon’s parole effective Feb. 19, the day after his parole officer first failed to find him. The case is referred to the corrections department’s Fugitive Apprehension Team.
“March 6: The Fugitive Apprehension Team and members of the Oakland Police Department visit three Oakland addresses, including Mixon’s mother’s home, his address of record. The following week, they distribute a bulletin to the Oakland Police Department. The case is also referred to the U.S. Marshals Service to check on reports that Mixon might have been in the Auburn, Wash., area. They are unable to locate him.
“March 21: Mixon is pulled over by Oakland motorcycle officers for a traffic violation shortly after 1 p.m. Authorities said he began shooting at the officers, killing Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and fatally wounding Officer John Hege, 41. After trying to hide in a nearby apartment building where his sister lives, Mixon kills Oakland SWAT sergeants Ervin Romans, 43, and Daniel Sakai, 35, before he is shot and killed by police.”
I’m really disgusted at your lame excuses. I’m tired of your “wolf cookies.”
I could understand anger if he was shot by a cop for no reason. I could understand if he was not threatening anyone. But this man was a convicted felon on parole (assault with a handgun). He shot the cops first. Get a clue, please. Why do you all want to celebrate a criminal? I remember the good old days when we would celebrate people like Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Adam Clayton Powell and Martin Luther King, Jr. But we black people have evolved. We are more enlightened now. We have to celebrate our criminal element too, especially our cop-killas. Al Sharpton and the NAACP did that last year for black thugs who tortured, sexually assaulted, and robbed a BLACK woman in Florida. They had no pity for the victim, just for the thugs who tortured her. Are you giving the whole world the impression that blacks seem to care more about criminals than law-abiding people. This is my “I’m-embarrassed-to-be-Black” moment. I understand there a “Stop Snitching” campaign in Oakland? Why? Is it a black thing and I don’t understand? When blacks do crap to other blacks, don’t tell the police, right? We have to protect our beloved criminals, right. It is the law-abiding black citizens, especially senior citizens, who live in terror of the black criminals who should go to hell right? It is your own black neighbors who live in oppression because of black thugs, not because of cops.
Why is it we do in each other in when we celebrate our own criminals?
This is what a friend wrote:
“Hi, Robert. This makes me sick to my stomach. I seriously need to plan to move from these United States of America. Some blacks are idiots, and they make me ashamed of my race with this madness. I feel for all the families involved. But he shot the cops first so they were just protecting themselves from this dangerous criminal. What is wrong with black people? He was a criminal not an advocate of any community. Black people wake up please before it’s too late.”
The black editor of the Oakland Tribune Chauncey Bailey was shot dead by a Black Muslim in 2007 in broad daylight. How many of these blacks of you marched and protested that? Were you all demanding justice? Were you all outraged when one of your own gunned down one of your own? Those who knew Bailey were outraged. I did not see outrage from you. I understand “Stop Snitching” was going on there in Oakland about that murder. Again, it is your own black neighbors who live in oppression because of black thugs, not because of cops. Or did you decide it was not really a tragedy since a white man or a cop did not shoot Bailey?
He was down for your community. Were you down for him? Bailey was a strong advocate for the black community, even for those same people who are celebrating Mixon. Yet the outrage in the black community in Oakland was very little. Mixon was not an advocate for the black community at all, a convicted criminal and murderer, and people march and protest and this criminal gets celebrated. He is a role model for all young Black children in Oakland right?
Rev. Walter Hoye, a black minister in Oakland went to jail because he was telling women, including black women, that there was an alternative to abortion. Were any of you outraged over the brother being a “victim” of the white racist justice system? How many of you were protesting with signs ‘FREE REV. HOYE!”?
Is not something wrong with that picture? Keep your lame excuses because they won’t fly, even out of Oakland International Airport.
Robert Oliver is a writer and photographer. He can be reached at interactionswest@gmail.com
Yes — 20 hecklers shamed their city, but please notice that thousands upon thousands Supported OPD, set up memorials and filled them with flowers, and attended rallies and the funerals with respect. The CITY supports their police dept.
I am in AWE of the SWAT team’s discipline — they held to the rule not to shoot until they had a defined target even while their own were being shot down.
Why haven’t we heard more about the fact the killer’s sister was in the apartment with him and came out of it essentially unscathed?
But I have to ask a question — of YOU, Maz.
How was the original shooting possible?
We have TWO cops on the scene of a traffic stop. I can understand one of them being distracted by the business of processing license information, but wasn’t the 2nd cop supposed to be backing him up? WATCHING the suspect?
How is it possible that he exited the car, approached both of them and shot them without being noted and prevented from doing exactly what he did?
I noticed a comment that all volunteer cops that covered the city during the funeral were double-teamed. I suspect it will be a long time before we see single cops on the streets of Oakland again.
Your thoughts?
I work for Richmond P.D. (CA) and I was horrified when I heard the news. My watch commander called us in from patrol and had us double up in patrol vehicles on that day.
The shocker for me was that I knew and trained with OPD Swat Sgt. D. Sakai! I’m still disturbed about this incident. The suspect had an AK in the trunk of his car, and used his second AK on OPD Swat. Also, on the initial T-stop, the suspect used a 9mm.
There are many trouble makers that live in Oakland and they know the police officers hands are tied by their current rules of engagement. In Richmond, we are allowed to do our jobs, but I can see in the future that things can change.
This whole thing is like a gorilla on my shoulders. Many hard core and wanna-bees bangers think it open season on cops. I got to stay focused and learn from this.
I’m not Mas, but I think I can answer DWWeber’s question concerning how the felon could shoot two officers at the traffic stop:
You can thank people like Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and the ACLU. Those officers should have approached the felon with guns drawn – but they wouldn’t dare do that in today’s climate. So the felon got the drop on them.
That’s my opinion.
Sincerely,
.45StayAlive
P.S. Dear Moderator, please delete my first two attempts at posting this message (typos in them).
The sad part to me about this is that Paul Helmke is ALREADY using this incident involving a murdering rapist to call for more gun control (in a state that has the HIGHEST rating on the BC scorecard) instead of calling for the violent felons to be kept in prison where they belong
1. Prayers for all…
2. This is why I am now against parole programs. Sorry, nearly ever cop I read about being murdered is killed by some **** with several pages of convictions. I have almost come to the conclusion that the only way judges keep killers off the street for good is if they kill a cop.
3. BART shooting. I blogged about that. I believe there is a serious crisis of training and a significantly poor design with regards to police tazers. Many of which look nearly modeled after a Glock. The devices should be design to distinguish themselves from a firearm and NOT replicate them. Model them after a Star Trek phaser or something. Something that can easily be pointed and aimed but doesn’t confuse the hand/mind.
http://nugun.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/oakland-bart-shooting/
I met officer Sakai during the Oscar Grant demonstrations while waiting to meet a friend for dinner in downtown oakland.We spoke for 15-20 minutes and i was impressed by his good sense and humanity,his death is a serious loss.as far as not “snitching” on gangbangers,I managed Real Property in east oakland for more than a decade and anyone who testifies against these thugs is risking their lives and those of their loved ones.I will never forget how amazed and pleased the beat cops were when I said i would press charges and testify “do you know what you are doing?!” “Yes,I have lived here for 15 years” “Are you sure you want to do this?” “yes”.I have since become a father and moved to a rural area to raise my child,I do know that if I had a child,lived in oakland and testified against these thugs that I would be wise to leave town immediately,when I was single it was different