At approximately 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 6, LAPD received a call from a man stating he had killed three members of his family. Responding officers came upon the suspect barricaded inside a home in the 19800 block of Welby Way in the San Fernando Valley.

The SWAT team was subsequently called in and while one group of SWAT officers fired their guns along the side of the house to create a diversion, another team entered through the front door, tossing in a flash-bang grenade. Once in the door, the officers discovered a low wall that may have blocked their view – and may have stopped the grenade from having its full effect on the suspect, authorities said.

As the officers made their way along the wall, officials said, the suspect popped up and shot Officer James Veenstra (51) from about 10 to 15 feet away, hitting him in the face. The other officers returned fire, but the suspect shot Officer Randal Simmons in the neck. Both officers were wearing helmets and bulletproof vests.

The remaining officers spotted a victim who appeared to still be alive and managed to pull him and the two wounded officers out of the house and onto the front lawn, where Fire Department paramedics administered medical aid. The civilian victim was already dead, but Simmons and Veenstra were rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center. Officer Simmons died just after 1 a.m., officials said.

The suspected shooter, Edwin Rivera, 20, was shot to death by a police sniper as he tried to flee his home – which had caught fire, presumably after tear-gas canisters were launched to force him out – more than 10 hours after the standoff began.

Police said Rivera, who was armed with a handgun and a shotgun, also killed his father, Gerardo Rivera (54) and brothers, Edgar Rivera (21) and Endi Rivera (25).

An unprecedented ten-thousand people filled the Crenshaw Christian Center’s Faith Dome on February 15, 2008 to pay respects and remember Officer Randal Simmons, described as “the rock” of the elite LAPD SWAT team. Simmons was the first SWAT team member in its four-decade history to die in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife Lisa and their two teenage children, Matthew and Gabrielle.

During the funeral, Officer Simmons was remembered as a deeply religious man, devoted husband, caring father, and model officer during the three-hour service. Many state and local officials were in attendance, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa, whose children Simmons had once guarded, acknowledged to mourners that the death had hit the community hard. “It touches a particular nerve way deep in our souls, and it hurts,” Villaraigosa said. “I’ve thought a lot over the last few days about why that is, and I think it has something to do with the fact that the entire city community loses when we lose a police officer.”

Officer Simmons’ Christian faith was a strong central part of his character. He was the minister at Glory Christian Fellowship International Church for 13 years. Known to his congregation as Minister Randy, he was seen as a humble and totally selfless individual that shared the unconditional love of Christ with all people he met, especially children and young adults. His tireless commitment to the youth has been recognized throughout the state with numerous awards he has received.

This afternoon at approximately 2:00 p.m. Sacramento Sheriff’s Detective Vu Nguyen and his partner were on a routine visit to a known gang house in South Sacramento near 41st Avenue and 37th Street. An unknown male standing in front of the house took off on foot as the Detectives approached. Nguyen and his partner gave chase. Nguyen followed the suspect over a fence into a backyard. Nguyen’s partner then heard gunshots and found Det. Nguyen down with a gunshot wound to the neck.

Detective Nguyen was life-flighted to UCD Med Center where he underwent surgery, but tragically succumbed to his injuries.

At this time a massive manhunt is underway for the suspect described as an Asian mail, 5’4”, 130-140 lbs, 20-30 years old.

Detective Nguyen was a 10-year veteran and had been with the gang unit for the past three years. At this point, immediate survivors are unknown. Further details, including funeral information will be forwarded as available.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection to the death of Sacramento Sheriff’s Detective Uv Nguyen, Sheriff John McGinness announced Thursday morning Dec. 20, 2007.

“We’re confident that we got our guy,” McGinness said during a news conference, smiling as he broke the news.

The boy was arrested at 12:30 a.m. at a family member’s home in the Meadowview area on suspicion of murdering Nguyen on Wednesday. The boy is being held without bail in the county’s juvenile hall.

The shooting prompted a manhunt involving more than 100 police, sheriff’s detectives and federal agents that lasted through the night.

On the afternoon of December 17, 2007 at approximately 1:40 p.m., Detective Kent Haws (38) of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department was shot while investigating suspicious activity in the area of Avenue 344 and Road 156. Det. Haws died at Kaweah-Delta Hospital at 3:10 p.m.

An individual detained near the scene and originally identified as a suspect was later termed a “person of interest.”

More details will be provided as available, including funeral service information.

Rialto police officer Sergio Carrera Jr. (29) was shot and killed on the morning of October 18th during a raid for illegal drugs. The incident began about 7 a.m. when SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with agents from the U.S. DEA and ATF, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.

Officer Carrera, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes. He was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto was arrested on suspicion of murder of a police officer.

Officer Carrera is survived by his wife, 2-year-old son, and year-old daughter.

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on June 10, 2007, Officer Robert F. Dickey (37) of the CHP Winterhaven office was on duty eastbound in the right lane of Interstate 8 at CA mile marker 84.40 when, CHP investigators believe, a tire blew out on the left side of his car. Witnesses reported seeing Dickey’s patrol car roll and go through a roadside fence.

Officer Dickey suffered severe injuries in the crash but was alive and conscious at the scene. He was taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center where he died.

Dickey had been a CHP officer for five years, four of which he served in Winterhaven. He is survived by his wife and one year old son.

CHP Officer Douglas Scott Russell was run down and killed during a high speed chase on Highway 50 in El Dorado County this afternoon.

The incident began around 12:30 pm when Rancho Cordova Police were called by a small business owner to investigate an unresponsive driver who was slumped over his steering wheel. When officers approached and tapped on the window, the person in the car started it and took off, leading police on a chase eastbound on Highway 50 at speeds reaching up to 100 mph.

At the Hazel Avenue on-ramp, CHP vehicles took over the pursuit.

The chase ended when CHP officers deployed a spike strip in an attempt to stop the car. Reportedly the suspect, David Zanon, swerved toward Officer Russell, who then fired at him. Zanon hit Officer Russell, who was outside his car. Zanon then took off on foot, but was later taken into custody.

Officer Russell was taken to University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he arrived in critical condition and later succumbed to his injuries. Officer Russell is survived by his wife, Lynn M. Russell.

At 8:55 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Raul Gama (43) was working undercover monitoring a suspect near Oxnard Street and Rhodes Avenue in North Hollywood when a vehicle crashed into his parked surveillance van. Deputy Gama was rushed to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. His wife was airlifted by sheriff’s helicopter to the hospital so she could be with her husband. Deputy Gama later succumbed to his injuries.

The 18-year-old driver whose Honda Element struck Deputy Gama’s van was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The suspect, identified as Luis Yanez of San Fernando, was driving west on Oxnard Street when his SUV struck Gama’s van from behind.

Deputy Gama was killed on the 20th anniversary of his graduation from the sheriff’s academy. He had been assigned to Cargo CATs, a team that investigates cargo thefts throughout Southern California. At the time of the crash, he and other deputies who were stationed elsewhere in the neighborhood were observing a man suspected of receiving stolen telephones.

Deputy Gama is survived by his wife of 15 years, Sandra; and four children, Monica 13, Crystal 11, Anita 9, and Marco 3. He is also survived by his mother, Ruth Gama; sister, Hilda (Lance) Severson; and nieces, Natalie and Emily.

During a news conference following the death of Deputy Gama, Sheriff Lee Baca spoke of the loss suffered by the department. “Deputy Gama certainly was a tremendous leader,” Baca said. “We are grieving here at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.” The sheriff said he was particularly moved by a conversation with Sandra Gama. She told him that her husband had recently spoken to her about the possibility that he could be killed in the line of duty. “He said, ‘If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t change anything. I love what I do,’ “ Baca said.

Gama is remembered as a wonderful husband, great father, loving son and brother, true friend, and exceptional Deputy Sheriff. While assigned to East Los Angeles Station, Deputy Gama became the team leader for the City of Cudahy. As team leader, Gama introduced the “meet a deputy” program, a model of community policing now utilized by all sheriff stations to improve community relations.

Around 3,000 people attended the funeral mass for Deputy Gama at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Chino Hills on May 7th. Uniformed officers from across the country, local and state dignitaries including Governor Schwarzenegger, friends, and family all gathered to pay their final respects.

Sheriff Baca recalled presenting Deputy Gama with a Medal of Valor in 2004 for helping rescue four children and their parents after a runaway Union Pacific freight train crashed into the family’s home. In addition, he received more than 52 commendations in his career with the Sheriff’s Department.

Officer Robert “Bob” Winget left for patrol from the Ripon Police Department on the morning of April 10, 2007. He was assigned to an area in south Ripon near the banks of the Stanislaus River in the Ripon River Crossing area on his all-terrain patrol vehicle.

At 11:40 a.m. dispatchers received an “undecipherable” transmission from Winget. The Ripon Police Department set up a Mobile Command Center and began assigning Ripon Police, Fire, City Public Works and citizens in search grids to attempt to locate Officer Winget. At approximately 1:14 p.m., a Ripon Consolidated Fire District search crew located him unconscious along the river area, west of Highway 99. They immediately began C.P.R. and brought in a 4-wheel drive rescue vehicle which removed him from the area into a waiting Ripon Fire District Ambulance. He was transported to Doctor’s Hospital in Modesto, where he was pronounced deceased at approximately 2:27 p.m. from traumatic injuries associated with the crash of his all-terrain vehicle.

Officer Bob Winget is survived by his wife of 33 years, Chris; daughters Ashley, 22, Kelley, 19, Bonnie, 16; and son, Edward Amey, 36.

Winget was a US Marine who served in Viet Nam. He began his 37-year law enforcement career in the early 1970s serving LAPD for 20 years, after which he moved up north and became a deputy sheriff for Stanislaus County. There he was a longtime Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer. For the past three years he served Ripon Police Department, where his duties included working with K-9 officers and the all-terrain vehicle patrol. His partner was Topper, the department’s anti-narcotics K9.

Robert Winget was memorialized and laid to rest on April 17, 2007. Nearly 1,000 uniformed peace officers from around the state gathered with Officer Winget’s family and friends for the funeral service at First Baptist Church in Modesto. Hundreds of citizens lined the streets of Ripon and Modesto to watch the motor-procession pass on its way to Burwood cemetery, where he was laid to rest.

Among those paying respects were California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., and a spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ripon Police Chief Richard Bull said Officer Winget epitomized the heart and soul of a peace officer, “a fearless warrior who had seen and done it all in a 37-year career in law enforcement.”

“Bob was fearless, tough and crusty, outspoken,” Bull said, reciting a long list of adjectives that characterized the U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “He was old school, stern, the town marshal, a one-man riot, and had a huge heart of gold.”

From the Mayor of Ripon, to waitresses in the café he and his wife frequented, to his fellow officers up and down California – everyone remembered Bob as ”an honest officer dedicated to serving his hometown”…“a super neat guy and my favorite cop”…“always a jokester”…“a mentor and a friend.”

“I am going to miss him desperately,” said his wife Chris. “I’ve been with him 33 years, my whole adult life. We are going to miss his police car parked out in front of our house, and everything about him.”