Face of Nation : A California Highway Patrol officer was killed and two others were injured after a man driving a truck that was to be impounded opened fire during a traffic stop Monday, starting a gun battle in which he was also killed, authorities said.
The officer who pulled over the truck was shot but was able to call for assistance, Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Scott Parker said. He was later taken by air ambulance but died from his injuries, Parker said. Two other highway patrol officers were wounded in the gun battle, he said. “It was a long and horrific gun battle,” Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said at a news conference Monday night. The gunfire erupted in Riverside, east of Los Angeles, near the 215 freeway shortly after 5:30 p.m.
A highway patrol officer stopped a white GMC pickup, called for a tow truck and was filling out paperwork when “the suspect entered his vehicle and pulled out a rifle, unknown caliber rifle, and he engaged our officer with multiple gunshots,” Parker said.
The next two officers who arrived, “immediately were engaged with gunfire by this suspect,” fired back and were wounded, Parker said.
Seven law enforcement officers fired their weapons during the gunfight, Diaz said. The suspect, who has not been identified by police, was shot by police and died at the scene, he said. One of the wounded highway patrol officers suffered major injuries and was in critical condition Monday night, and the other wounded officer suffered minor injuries, Parker said.
California Highway Patrol Commissioner Warren Stanley identified the officer who was killed as Andre Moye. “I am devastated by the tragedy that unfolded earlier in Riverside,” he said in a tweet, adding, “Prayers go out to all, including the responding officers injured in the shooting. The suspect’s name was confirmed as Aaron Luther by his father, Dennis Luther. Luther said the family is “devastated” and the officers are in their thoughts.
“My wife and I are just in shock right now. And we’re just praying for the officers,” Luther said in a brief phone interview late Monday. The man who aided the woman and her children said that just before he went to help, he could hear rapid gunshots.
“Right in front of me, I could see her window, her front windshield, take a bullet and the round traveled through the windshield right next to her,” Childress told. He said he heard screaming and could tell there were young children in the car.
“The gunfire continued, and it was in front of me, in front of her car, so I opened up my passenger car, got out, made a low crawl-type entry to … her car. And I opened up the door and I found two small children in car seats — two little boys,” he said. “So I told her that I’m going to take her and her kids out and try to get them to safety.”
Childress said he put the children behind the engine block for their safety, and once the gunfire slowed, he grabbed the woman and her boys and took them in a low position back behind his car. He said they made it to the bottom of the bridge over the freeway, where they were helped by what he called brave police and sheriff’s deputies. Childress said his 21 years in the Marine Corps was helpful in Monday’s situation.
