California Officer Fatally Shot by Homicide Suspect While Responding to Traffic Accident
A California police officer was killed on Monday during a shootout after officers came upon a homicide suspect while responding to a traffic accident, PEOPLE confirms.
Keith Boyer and another Whittier police officer were responding to the call at around 8:30 a.m. when the 26-year-old suspect allegedly opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol, police said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. Boyer was 53, according to multiple reports.
“He was the best of the best,” Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said through tears during a Monday news conference. “This is an unbelievably senseless tragedy.”
The other officer injured in the shooting, Patrick Hazell, was in stable condition at the UC Irvine Medical Center on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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Police said the shooter accidentally rear-ended another car on Mar Vista Street and Colima Road and was attempting to get help to move his car to the side of the road when the two officers approached. Police noticed the suspect’s alleged gang tattoos and decided to search him for weapons, the Associated Press reports. The man then began shooting at the officers, police alleged in the statement.
“He started firing at the officers and they returned fire,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Corina alleged, according to the Times. “We are still looking into that, why he just opened fire.”
Boyer is a 27-year veteran of the department.
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The suspect was taken to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and is expected to live, the AP reports.
The suspect’s name has not been made public, but police have described him as an alleged Los Angeles gang member who had recently been released on parole.
Officers have since learned that the car the man was driving was allegedly stolen and the suspect is accused of shooting his 46-year-old cousin, Roy Torres, just hours before the police shooting, the Times reports.
