Profiles of 3 believed killed by ex-LA policeman
Feb 12, 2013, 4:00 AM | Updated: 11:11 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner was charged Monday with killing a Riverside police officer. He also is suspected of killing an Irvine couple after declaring a revenge war on law enforcement in an alleged online rant. Here’s a look at the victims:
MONICA QUAN
Monica Quan, 28, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, 27, were found shot in his car in the parking structure of their Irvine condominium complex on Feb. 3.
Quan was in her second year as assistant women’s basketball coach at California State University, Fullerton _ the culmination of her love for the game that began when she was a child.
A standout high school basketball player, Quan once dreamed of playing professionally for the Los Angeles Sparks. She had a reputation for being fiery and intense.
Quan met Lawrence while both were playing basketball at Concordia University in Irvine.
After several coaching jobs, she joined Fullerton, where she was known as “Coach Mo.”
“I loved her work ethic. I loved her passion for life,” head coach Marcia Foster said.
Quan’s father, Randal, was the first Chinese-American captain in the Los Angeles Police Department. Later, as an attorney, he represented Dorner in the officer’s failed appeal of his dismissal to a department Board of Rights.
Dorner allegedly posted an online rant naming Quan and others that says: “I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours.”
KEITH LAWRENCE
Keith Lawrence loved basketball so much that he would drive miles for a pickup game. But his professional goal was to be a cop.
In August, he was hired as an armed public safety officer at the University of Southern California, where he was praised for his professionalism. Before taking the job, he attended the Ventura County Sheriff’s Academy and trained with Oxnard police.
He grew up playing basketball. As a player in high school and at Concordia University, he was known for his calm, no-drama attitude, even after scoring a half-court basket.
Friends told the Orange County Register that Lawrence was flamboyant in other ways; he loved wearing bright colors, such as neon green and yellow, and loudly played every kind of music from hip-hop to country.
He and Quan were such basketball fans that Lawrence even wanted to propose at a Nike store. His younger brother, Chris, talked him out of it.
Days before their deaths, Lawrence instead scattered rose petals on the floor of their Irvine home, got down on a knee and asked for her hand, the Los Angeles Times reported.
MICHAEL CRAIN
Crain, a police officer with the city of Riverside, was mortally wounded on Feb. 7 in an ambush shooting as he sat in a police car at a stoplight.
Crain, 34, leaves his wife, a 4-year-old daughter and a son, 10. They remain under police protection until Dorner is caught.
According to the department, Crain loved attending dance recitals with his daughter, coaching his son’s baseball team and restoring his 1970 Chevy Nova.
An acquaintance told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that Crain, a SWAT and field training officer, was always focused on officer safety when answering a call, and always had a plan if something went bad.
But officials said he had no time to react when a car pulled up and rifle fire erupted as Crain and a trainee officer sat in their patrol car during a graveyard shift. The trainee was wounded and is expected to survive.
Crain joined the Riverside police force in 2011 after leaving the Marine Corps, where he served two tours in Kuwait, was promoted to sergeant, and later taught military operations in urban terrain at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.
His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.
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