Murder Suspect Says He Just Wanted to Scare Driver of Van

The man suspected of killing an off-duty police officer in a freeway dispute has admitted firing his 12-gauge shotgun at Patricia Dwyer’s van but said he didn’t know he had struck anyone, police said Wednesday.

Harold Harvey Hawks, 26, a sheet metal worker, told investigators that he just wanted to scare the driver of a van that flashed its bright lights and tried to pass him on the Riverside Freeway last Friday night, said Corona Police Detective Dale Stewart.

Stewart questioned Hawks late Tuesday after a telephone tip led police to wait for the suspect at his home in Pomona and at a friend’s house nearby.

Hawks was taking his 2-year-old son to the mountains for the weekend when, in anger, he fired a single shot at the Dwyer family’s van, Stewart said. The boy, who lives with Hawks’ estranged wife, apparently was asleep at the time of the shooting.

After Hawks left the freeway at Main Street, he bought gasoline in central Corona, returned to the freeway and continued on his way, Hawks told police.

Hawks was booked into Riverside County Jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and firing a weapon at an occupied vehicle. He was held there Wednesday in lieu of $250,000 bail, pending a scheduled arraignment Friday.

Stewart said Wednesday that Hawks “was surprised when I talked to him” and told him that one woman had been killed and another seriously injured by the shotgun blast. “. . . He was upset over it.”

Police searched the house that Hawks shares with his parents, finding a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun with a folding stock and pistol grip, and ammunition for the gun, Stewart said. A criminalist from the California Department of Justice examined an impounded car Wednesday for gunpowder traces and other evidence of a shotgun blast.

That car--a white, four-door 1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a faded blue vinyl top, registered to Hawks’ mother--matches the description of the gunman’s car that witnesses gave police after the shooting.

The color and numbers of the car’s blue California license plates, however, were not consistent with Wendy Varga’s widely publicized recollection. Varga, who was also in the Dwyer van, was seriously wounded in the shooting.

Although witnesses not in the van had described a car with blue plates, a police source said, investigators had placed greater emphasis on Varga’s story, which detailed a white California plate including the letters “BS” and the numeral “0.”

“It proved to be inaccurate,” said Corona Police Chief John Cleghorn, “but fortunately it didn’t hinder our ability to solve the case.”

When an informant called the Corona police station with Hawks’ name, address and a description of his mother’s car, investigators de cided that Varga’s memory had been faulty, the source said.

Varga “was hurt, she was shot (and) she was sedated,” noted Corona Police Lt. Bob Martin, commander of detectives.

The telephone informant “was not a witness to the actual crime,” Martin said. “It was someone who put things together.”

The informant was familiar with the suspect, said Corona Police Detective Sgt. Ray Cota.

“The motivation was just to help us solve the crime,” Cota said. The informant did not mention the $15,000 in reward money offered by the Riverside Firemen’s Benefit Assn. and the Alhambra Police Officers Assn.

Dwyer’s husband, Mike, is a captain in the Riverside city Fire Department. Varga’s father, James, is a detective in the Alhambra Police Department.

Mike Dwyer was driving family members and friends back to Riverside last Friday after attending motorcycle races in Costa Mesa. He was hurrying to take his son, Mark, to Riverside General Hospital to have him checked for injuries after he was involved in an accident during a race.

Dwyer had told police that he flashed his bright lights and tried to pass when a slower car cut him off in the fast lane. He was finally able to pass the car on the right, but its driver stayed with his van through Santa Ana Canyon and into Corona.

There, the car’s driver fired once at the side of the van. The shot killed Patricia Dwyer, 45, Corona’s first female police officer and a mother of three. It narrowly missed Mark Dwyer and hit Varga.

Stewart did not know if Hawks routinely carried a gun in his car, but the suspect told the detective that “he was going to the mountains and he likes to shoot.”

Varga’s condition has steadily improved. She was still hospitalized Wednesday but was listed in good condition at Corona Community Hospital.

According to Stewart, Hawks said that “they were driving erratically, too. So he figured he’d put a slug in the side of the van and teach them a lesson.”

Hawks’ record shows one previous arrest, for misdemeanor drunk driving, Stewart said. “He advised (me) that he had a beer earlier but was not intoxicated” at the time of the shooting.

The suspect said he was agitated because his wife had made him wait four hours to take his son for the weekend, Stewart said, adding that the Hawkses are in the process of getting a divorce.

Police received more than 50 telephone calls and a couple of visits from people offering information, Cleghorn said. “This arrest would not have been possible were it not for the support we received from the public.”

Dwyer’s funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Crossroads Christian Church in Corona. She will be buried at Pierce Brothers Crestlawn Cemetery in the La Sierra section of northwestern Riverside.

Police and fire departments from the California desert to the coast are expected to send representatives, Cleghorn said.