State Police Officer Raymond V. O’Connor was a passenger in a state police car driven by State Police Officer, Daniel M. Murphy. The two officers had completed a patrol of state property in San Jose and were returning to San Francisco on the Eastshore Freeway when a motorist driving in the opposing lane of traffic lost control, skidded 52 feet, jumped a divider strip and skidded another 30 feet before crashing into the state police vehicle. Murphy sustained major injuries and O’Connor died just minutes after the crash which also killed the motorist. Officer O’Connor, 30, had served five years with the state police and had been a policeman with the city of Hayward before returning to state service.

Officer Robert W. Suess was patrolling on Baldwin Avenue in the city of El Monte when a drunk driver speeding in the opposite direction careened through a red light, ran another car off the road, then abruptly swerved over the center line and struck Suess’ motorcycle. Witnesses said the 28-year-old officer had no chance to avoid the crash and was killed instantly. The driver was charged with manslaughter and felony drunk driving. Suess had served as a police officer with the Vallejo P.D. before joining the Patrol only nine months earlier.

Los Angeles county Sheriff’s Department Deputy David Horr was assigned to the Montrose Station at the time of his murder. On December 7, a day noted for infamy, Deputy David Horr responded to a disturbance call in La Crescenta during the evening hours. The house was lit but no one answered Deputy Horr’s knock so he went to the back door and tried again. His efforts were met with deadly force. A 16-gauge shotgun blast felled him. His immediate concerns were for his fellow deputies as he told them to take cover, he could manage alone. Deputy Horr was rushed to a local hospital with wounds to his stomach and hand. His assailant surrendered after deputies surrounded the house. The weapon was found in the attic and an empty shell was in the suspect’s pocket. Deputy Horr died two months later.

On February 2, 1958, Ontario Detective Russell Grower, a Pomona Police Detective, and a Monte Vista Police (now Montclair) Detective, took one of their private vehicles to Soquel Canyon in Chino Hills to follow-up a tip on a gang of tire thieves. At 2:15 p.m., Detective Grower knocked on the door and was met by the suspect. When Grower identified himself, the suspect attempted to close the door. As Grower advanced, the suspect shot him in the forehead. Unable to capture the fleeing suspect, the detectives transported Grower to the nearest hospital. Detective Grower had already lost his battle for life. The suspect was later captured and prosecuted for murder.

Officer Camile E. Madere was patrolling on his motorcycle through the city of Stanton. Madere was about to overtake and pass another vehicle, when a tractor and semi-trailer pulled out of a driveway into the path of the officer and the vehicle he was going to pass. Both the patrolman and the motorist applied brakes in an attempt to avoid colliding with the truck. Madere’s motorcycle skidded under the truck killing the 35-year-old patrol officer instantly.

Deputy Harold Blevins was assigned to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Temple Station at the time of his murder. Responding to an early morning robbery in progress call at a local restaurant, Deputies Blevins and Charles Covington could not know they were up against two career criminals, Thomas Barrington paroled from San Quentin Prison three weeks earlier and Harry Hancock, paroled from Folsom Prison six months before. Deputy Blevins would never know for he was shot in the head as he approached the establishment. Deputy Covington fired at the suspect who shot Blevins, inflicting a mortal wound, but himself was shot in the chest and also went down. The victims of the robbery and the victim officers were rescued during the resulting standoff which ended when the second suspect was discovered hiding in a car at the restaurant. Deputy Covington survived the bullet which entered his chest, exiting out his back.

Officer Robert E. Reed had stopped and arrested a motorist for a traffic violation after a high-speed pursuit along U.S. Highway 101 near Ventura. The suspect, who had become combative during his arrest, complained of an injured ankle so Reed was transporting him to the hospital instead of jail. As the suspect was being transferred from a gurney to the psychiatric ward, he jerked Reed’s gun out of the holster and opened fire, killing the 36-year-old patrol officer. Reed was a four-year member of the CHP.

On July 22, 1957, Officer Milton G. Curtis, a 25-year-old with two months of service, and Officer Richard A. Phillips, 28, with two years of service, had stopped a man for running a red light. While writing the ticket, unaware that the driver had just kidnapped and raped the owner of the car prior to stealing it, both officers were shot to death by the driver with a .22 caliber revolver.

He was 24 when he shot and killed two police officers and 45 years later, facing prison at last, Gerald F. Mason tearfully told his victims’ families, “I don’t understand why I did this.”

Under a plea deal, rape, robbery and kidnapping charges were dropped against the 69-year-old retired service station owner, who apologized in court as he stood before the families and about a dozen members of the El Segundo police department.

He was immediately sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

“I feel like I am dreaming,” Mason said. “It makes no sense. It’s contrary to everything I believe. At no other time in my life have I intentionally harmed anyone. I don’t know why I did this. “I detest this crimes . . . I still do not want to remember what happened.” “Please forgive me,” he said. “Do not be bitter.”

The Columbia, S.C., man had been living quietly with his wife of 40 years, giving her and their neighbors no indication that he had a criminal past. He was arrested in January 2003.

No member of Mason’s family attended the hearing, and his lawyer in Columbia, Chris Mills, said they would not comment.

“From our perspective, he’s acknowledged his responsibility. He’s apologized in court,” Mills told The State newspaper in Columbia. “Now it’s time for everybody to move on with their lives.”

Neighbors were shocked.

“We want to think he wasn’t guilty because of the way he carried himself,” Bill Wilson told the newspaper. Added longtime friend Jimmy Woods: “This is just flabbergasting.”

Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine said his office would not oppose a request by Mason to serve his sentence in South Carolina near his wife and family.

El Segundo officers Milton Curtis, 25, and Richard Philips, 28, were shot three times each on July 22, 1957, shortly before 1:30 a.m. after they pulled Mason over for running a red light.

In his dying act, Phillips marked his killer for life, said Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine. One of the three bullets the officer fired into the getaway car struck Mason, he said. When detectives arrested him, they discovered a tell-tale scar on his back.

About 90 minutes before the shooting, Mason robbed two 15-year-old girls and their dates, California authorities said. One of the girls was sexually assaulted.

The case languished until police got a tip last September that someone had bragged about the killings.

The lead was false, but it prompted a review in which the FBI’s fingerprint database matched prints from the stolen car to Mason, who had spent time in jail for a 1956 burglary conviction in South Carolina.

In court the children of the slain men spoke of the grief their families endured without their fathers.

“Your cowardly act shattered our lives,” said Carolyn Phillips, who spoke of her mother’s struggle to raise three children. “We cannot and will not forgive you.”

Outside court, Keith Curtis, the son of the other slain officer, said he was not moved by Mason’s courtroom apology.

“There is no way to describe our pain,” Phillips said. “There is no way to describe the emptiness and anguish we have felt all our lives without Dad . . . We cannot and will not forgive you.”

“Mr. Mason is sorry now and we heard his apology speech,” he said. “He was sorry for 55 years and the only reason we’re hearing that apology now is because he got caught.”

“While advances in technology were key, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca also credited generations of investigators who ultimately brought Mason to justice.

“I thought this day would never come,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Howard Speaks, now 88, who had dusted the 1949 Ford for prints.

Sheriff’s forensic experts reviewing the case last September combined two partial prints of the same finger from the Ford’s steering wheel and submitted the result to the FBI. The match was from a 1956 burglary conviction.

Sheriff’s detectives, Dan McElderry and Kevin Lowe, said that match allowed them to make the connection with evidence gathered shortly after the crime. The evidence was presented to Mason’s lawyer before he entered the plea.

In 1960, a Manhattan Beach resident called police to report the discovery of a watch and a chrome-plated revolver behind a house. The police then found a second watch, and both watches were identified as belonging to the Hawthorne victims.

The rare, nine-shot Harrington & Richardson .22 revolver was identified as the murder weapon. It had been purchased four days before the killings in a Shreveport, La., Sears store, where the buyer gave the name G.D. Wilson and a fictional Miami address. A day earlier at a YMCA across the street, the guest registry had been signed by a George D. Wilson, also of Miami.

Prosecutors said they had expert evidence that the handwriting on the registry name was the same as on Mason’s 1999 South Carolina driver’s license application and on an automobile bill of sale.

When detectives served a search warrant on Mason’s Columbia home after his arrest in January, they found in his gun collection another rare nine-shot .22 revolver. In addition, investigators found three witnesses who identified Mason from a 1956 photo as the man they had seen the night of the murders.

On July 22, 1957, Officer Milton G. Curtis, a 25-year-old with two months of service, and Officer Richard A. Phillips, 28, with two years of service, had stopped a man for running a red light. While writing the ticket, unaware that the driver had just kidnapped and raped the owner of the car prior to stealing it, both officers were shot to death by the driver with a .22 caliber revolver.

He was 24 when he shot and killed two police officers and 45 years later, facing prison at last, Gerald F. Mason tearfully told his victims’ families, “I don’t understand why I did this.”

Under a plea deal, rape, robbery and kidnapping charges were dropped against the 69-year-old retired service station owner, who apologized in court as he stood before the families and about a dozen members of the El Segundo police department.

He was immediately sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

“I feel like I am dreaming,” Mason said. “It makes no sense. It’s contrary to everything I believe. At no other time in my life have I intentionally harmed anyone. I don’t know why I did this. “I detest this crimes . . . I still do not want to remember what happened.” “Please forgive me,” he said. “Do not be bitter.”

The Columbia, S.C., man had been living quietly with his wife of 40 years, giving her and their neighbors no indication that he had a criminal past. He was arrested in January 2003.

No member of Mason’s family attended the hearing, and his lawyer in Columbia, Chris Mills, said they would not comment.

“From our perspective, he’s acknowledged his responsibility. He’s apologized in court,” Mills told The State newspaper in Columbia. “Now it’s time for everybody to move on with their lives.”

Neighbors were shocked.

“We want to think he wasn’t guilty because of the way he carried himself,” Bill Wilson told the newspaper. Added longtime friend Jimmy Woods: “This is just flabbergasting.”

Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine said his office would not oppose a request by Mason to serve his sentence in South Carolina near his wife and family.

El Segundo officers Milton Curtis, 25, and Richard Philips, 28, were shot three times each on July 22, 1957, shortly before 1:30 a.m. after they pulled Mason over for running a red light.

In his dying act, Phillips marked his killer for life, said Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine. One of the three bullets the officer fired into the getaway car struck Mason, he said. When detectives arrested him, they discovered a tell-tale scar on his back.

About 90 minutes before the shooting, Mason robbed two 15-year-old girls and their dates, California authorities said. One of the girls was sexually assaulted.

The case languished until police got a tip last September that someone had bragged about the killings.

The lead was false, but it prompted a review in which the FBI’s fingerprint database matched prints from the stolen car to Mason, who had spent time in jail for a 1956 burglary conviction in South Carolina.

In court the children of the slain men spoke of the grief their families endured without their fathers.

“Your cowardly act shattered our lives,” said Carolyn Phillips, who spoke of her mother’s struggle to raise three children. “We cannot and will not forgive you.”

Outside court, Keith Curtis, the son of the other slain officer, said he was not moved by Mason’s courtroom apology.

“There is no way to describe our pain,” Phillips said. “There is no way to describe the emptiness and anguish we have felt all our lives without Dad . . . We cannot and will not forgive you.”

“Mr. Mason is sorry now and we heard his apology speech,” he said. “He was sorry for 55 years and the only reason we’re hearing that apology now is because he got caught.”

“While advances in technology were key, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca also credited generations of investigators who ultimately brought Mason to justice.

“I thought this day would never come,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Howard Speaks, now 88, who had dusted the 1949 Ford for prints.

Sheriff’s forensic experts reviewing the case last September combined two partial prints of the same finger from the Ford’s steering wheel and submitted the result to the FBI. The match was from a 1956 burglary conviction.

Sheriff’s detectives, Dan McElderry and Kevin Lowe, said that match allowed them to make the connection with evidence gathered shortly after the crime. The evidence was presented to Mason’s lawyer before he entered the plea.

In 1960, a Manhattan Beach resident called police to report the discovery of a watch and a chrome-plated revolver behind a house. The police then found a second watch, and both watches were identified as belonging to the Hawthorne victims.

The rare, nine-shot Harrington & Richardson .22 revolver was identified as the murder weapon. It had been purchased four days before the killings in a Shreveport, La., Sears store, where the buyer gave the name G.D. Wilson and a fictional Miami address. A day earlier at a YMCA across the street, the guest registry had been signed by a George D. Wilson, also of Miami.

Prosecutors said they had expert evidence that the handwriting on the registry name was the same as on Mason’s 1999 South Carolina driver’s license application and on an automobile bill of sale.

When detectives served a search warrant on Mason’s Columbia home after his arrest in January, they found in his gun collection another rare nine-shot .22 revolver. In addition, investigators found three witnesses who identified Mason from a 1956 photo as the man they had seen the night of the murders.